


Birds of a Feather

by AkeboshiShiba



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-18
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2018-05-21 12:23:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 38,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6051490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AkeboshiShiba/pseuds/AkeboshiShiba
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Its started with a question, and then became a slight obsession. He wanted to know... something deep within him needed to know. she was different... Silent, strange, and those eyes... those eyes the color of the accursed tesseract... they infuriated him and made him curious all the same. he wanted to know who she could be, and why those eyes called out to him so desperately. Maybe he could figure this all out... but first there was an adventure he would never forget in between him and the question he wanted answered so desperately... Why did he care so much about what happened to this woman?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. His questions.

When he had arrived there, there wasn’t a soul happy to see him in the slightest; except for his dearest mother of course… she was delighted to see him alive and well. His father didn’t appear as if he could hold any more anger towards him. Loki wouldn’t be surprised if Odin ordered his head on a platter at this point. His eyes landed on his mother who yearned to reach out to him but she knew she couldn’t because of Odin. Loki stared ahead at his adopted father in unconcealed amusement.

“Loki… you’re going to spend the rest of your life in a cell. Be grateful. The only reason you are still alive is because of Frigga and you will never see her again.” Odin said and hit the end of his spear against the floor, signaling his guards to carry Loki away. They carried him down to the dungeons and opened an empty cell with only one side connecting to another cell. Thor frowned as they grasped Loki’s Cuffs. Loki glanced over into the cell next to his to see a woman there. The woman looked up at him, but said nothing as they released his bonds. He refrained from furrowing his brows, seeing as her eyes had caught his attention swiftly. They looked abnormal, as if the parts of her eyes were destroyed and merged together.

They were strangely a lovely color… a cyan blue that reflected the color of the Tessaract. His own eyes were only a few shades paler. He tore his gaze from her broken eyes and looked around his room, it was dreadfully bland and lackluster when it came to décor and color, but he supposed that he was lucky seeing as he actually had a bed and furnishings in his cell, while all of the cells he could see had none. He glanced back at the woman, who had closed her eyes and rested her back against the wall furthest from him. Her image burned in the back of his mind and he swore he had seen her somewhere before, but he couldn’t figure out where.

She wasn't anything out of the ordinary... She looked to be of Midgard origin, so he didn't think much of her. Although her eyes first caught his attention, her appearance screamed human... And her hair... long straight tresses of ebony with a silver shimmer to it that appeared to reach her lower back. He sighed and glanced at Thor, who had given him a look and made his way over to the woman.

Thor placed his hand on the barrier of the cell and she reached to place her fingertips where his palm was. “I promise I will fix this…” He whispered to her. Loki barely heard it but it drove his curiosity wild. He had so many questions for her now, but he was not going to ask them because it went against his prideful nature. The woman nodded at him and made her way back to the corner she had been in before.

Once the guards left, he sat on his couch and flipped open a book. He found his eyes constantly flicking over to her wall and he released a sigh as he snapped his book shut. He turned in his chair and propped his right leg over his left knee, while holding the book loosely in his grasp.

He watched her for a moment, determining whether or not to speak to her. His curiosity won and he offered a small smile. “Do you like to read?” he asked, but she didn’t reply, she just stared at him in utter surprise. Her mouth opened, and then shut again. After a few minutes he sighed and rolled to lie back on his chair. It seemed she wasn’t going to answer him. He hadn't actually expected any replies... He'd honestly just wanted to hear the sounds of his own voice, as narcissistic as that was it was the truth. He'd hoped for some sound to drown out the silence of the deathly silent cell block they'd placed him in.

He spent hours reading, and then the lights cut out. He sighed and rolled his eyes as he walked over to the small bed that lay propped against the walls. It was soft and had high quality blankets, but he supposed that’s what happens when you’re imprisoned royalty… you get the best of the best. He glanced over and looked at the woman once more, she lay propped up against the wall her nearly silent snores drifting between their conjoined wall. He raised a brow, pulled the covers over him, and rolled to face the wall. He drifted off not long after, he didn’t care for this place, and you couldn’t force him to… this was temporary until he found a means of escape.

:-:

He awoke the next morning to the sound of the guards bringing in more prisoners, which were by no means anything other than rowdy. He sighed and sat up on his bed, obviously there was no chance of him getting any more sleep until they were silenced once more. He glanced around his room and saw that he now had more books and another blanket which he hadn’t had when he had gone to sleep. He glanced over to the room right next to his only to see her still sleeping with her back against the wall. He rolled his eyes and turned to face his chair where the new books were stacked up.

He sat down and flipped open the cover of one of the books, not even bothering to read what it was because he knew his mother would only give him books she knew he would read. He heard her moving in the other cell and he glanced over at her, she was doing some sort of… Yoga… as the Midgardians called it. He raised a brow as she pressed her chest down onto her crossed arms and using nothing but her abdominal strength lifting her lower half off of the floor. He repressed the interested look that he felt coming to his face. He turned back to his book, but once again found himself peering over to her side, where she was yet again doing some odd style of stretching.

After a few hours the guards finally brought them some food, although he noticed that his plate was much more extravagant than that of the girl in the cell next to his. He shrugged and made his way to his table to sit and eat. A few more hours passed and he sighed as he rolled from side to side on his bed. He was trying to sleep once more, seeing as the prisoners had all gone silent once more. He just couldn’t seem to find the right position to get comfortable.

“Does your family ever visit you here?” He asked and He heard her moving around over there… but she didn’t say a single word. “I understand if they don’t… mine despise me…” He said and all of her movements halted. He looked over his shoulder from where he’d crossed his arms behind his head. She had motivated herself to sit in front of the wall dividing their cells, a frown on her lips but an interested furrow of her brows.

“I don’t need your pity… it was just a question. Carry on with whatever you were doing over there before I asked…” He snapped and watched as she stood and made her way back towards the back wall where she sat with her elbows propped up on her knees. He rolled over to face the wall with his book in hand and read until he drifted off.

He woke on the third day to her humming a tune. She was sitting with her legs crossed in the center of her cell, humming a soft tune that made him want to move closer to listen, but he didn’t because he was a god and no god should fall for the trickery of a mere mortal. He knew what she was trying to do… she was trying to lure him in closer, for what reason he didn’t know. But what he did know is that he wasn’t going to fall for her little game.

 He turned and sat on his sofa and plucked another book from the pile and began reading it. This book was about the war between Odin and Laufey… It disgusted him. He threw the book across the room and fetched another. He leaned to sit down and found her broken eyes boring into him, as if trying to read him… or perhaps she was trying to decipher his emotions, or lack thereof towards her.

He rolled his eyes and sat down and flipped open the new book. It was on ice magic, which he could read for days without growing bored, but it just wasn’t doing anything for him today. He sighed and stared at the wall. He sat there for hours, doing absolutely nothing. Even when they had brought in the food he hadn’t eaten, he just sat there… too bored to do much else. Before he knew it, it was nearing night once more and he heard her moving around in her cell. Most likely to get ready for bed he supposed.

 He looked to see her moving to sit by the wall and he sighed.

“Why are you here?”

He frowned at himself, seeing as his curiosity was getting the better of him. She sat up and looked at him, the small surprise on her face said that she hadn’t thought he was going to speak to her today. Her dark ebony hair seemed to glow in her ever darkening cell and that was how he could tell where she moved during the night. Her hair seemed to stand out against the darkness in a way that made it seem as if there was a shadow moving in the dark.

He rolled over and actually drifted off once he saw her stop moving.

:-:

He awoke much earlier this morning than he had any other morning so far, and all he could see in the dark were her glowing blue eyes. They were eerie and sent shivers down his spine. He didn’t know what was up with her eyes, but he had decided that he didn’t like it. Especially when they glowed in this manner…

The flicker of blue flashed through his mind’s eye and he grit his teeth and threw his books. That damnable Tesseract had caused this. It and the Chitauri had tricked him into the whole mess on earth and this is where it put him. He supposed he should thank that abominable creature that had smashed him back into reality, but he was too bitter and prideful to admit he had been controlled by a damnable stone.

He was a god and yet a rock controlled him. His lip curled up in a vicious sneer and he threw the last book at the wall, watching in a mild amusement as its pages shredded and fell about the floor. He held up a hand and flicked his wrist in the direction of the book and it appeared to piece itself back together.

He flopped backwards onto his sofa and began rubbing his eyes in irritation. “What have I done to deserve this…” He growled and gripped his knees. Images of everything he had done on earth flooded his mind and he sneered once more. He had been so subtly tricked it was ridiculous. They had made him do things that seemed like something he would do but they had manipulated him…

He had been himself, but not himself all the same…

They brought in his tray of food, but he sent it up into the face of the guard that had brought it in. He sat in the same place pondering this same subject the entire day because it had angered him so much. Once he had thought about it, what had really set him off that morning where her eyes, those enraging eyes that reflected the color of the tessaract.

He stood and stomped over to the divider between the cells. It was pitch black once more in the cells, but he could see her… her inky black shadowy hair was a dead giveaway of her position. “I have another question for you… and this time I would like an answer.” He demanded and she tilted her head up at him, her odd eyes slowly opening to look up at him.

The color of her eyes made his breath hitch and he was frozen in place for a moment, confused as to what he was supposed to do while those eyes were tugging at his soul. His jaw hung agape for a moment, but then he gathered himself once more and cleared his throat.

“What is wrong with your eyes?” He asked, but as usual… there was only silence to greet him. Silence… and the glowing image of her eyes blinking curiously at him before they slid shut and signaled her drift into unconsciousness.

:-:

He woke the next morning to see her dusting off her leggings, what she was dusting off of them he had no idea, seeing as the cells were always pristine. He raised a brow and shook his head. He began pacing his cell in boredom, only stopping when the door opened to reveal more guards. He raised a brow and neared his cell barrier.

Before him now stood Frigga, who had snuck in to see him. “Mother…” He greeted and she held a finger to her lips. “You must be quieter dear… Heimdall is watching.” She said and he nodded. “He doesn’t feel you should grace me with your presence does he?” Loki asked and Frigga frowned. She placed her hand on the barrier and looked him in the eyes expectantly.

“Dear… Heimdall is the only reason I am here right now… he is keeping your father busy at the moment…” she said and Loki frowned as he placed his hand over hers on the barrier. “Forgive me mother… I have done my wrongs…” he said and finally made eye contact with her. “Loki…” she began but he shook his head.

“I was misguided mother… but… I will serve my sentence here because I know I was wrong… I'm still angry, still very much bitter… but I will do whatever I must if it enables me to one day be able to live amongst you once more…” He said and Frigga frowned. “You know that won't happen…” She whispered and he offered a smug laugh.

“Dearest mother… I'm going to be on my best behavior… don’t they let you out for good behavior?” he asked smugly and his mother gave him a scolding look. “You're acting like this is a game, Loki… your father was serious.” She said and he sighed, but then offered her a distasteful look. “But… he’s not my father… so I consequently do not care if he was serious or not.” He said and Frigga removed her hand from the barrier.

“I hope you don’t live to regret those words.” She whispered as she wrapped her shawl around herself once more. “Goodbye for now, Loki…” she said as she walked away from his cell. He thought she was going to leave, but she instead walked over to the cell of that strange eyed woman. Frigga tapped on the cell and the woman looked at her.

“Syndra dear…” she called and the dark haired woman made her way to the barrier. “Oh dear…” Frigga sighed and Loki furrowed his brows at the genuine pity in his mother’s eyes and voice. “Hold up the bracelets.” Frigga said and Syndra, as he now knew her, held up the golden bangles. His mother cast some sort of spell and he furrowed his brows as the woman’s appearance began to change.

Her hair no longer had the silver shimmer, and her eyes were correcting themselves. He scoffed and flipped through his book, trying to make his mother think he was completely uninterested. He waited for his mother to leave and for everything to go silent once more before he flung himself from his chair and glared into her cell.

He expected her to be looking at him in confusion, but she was painting. Whatever she was painting… he couldn’t tell what it was, but he knew it was going to be impressive. Her gentle brush strokes across the solid back wall were done with such finesse that he knew she must very much enjoy painting. He scanned over the small part of the painting so far and he was mildly impressed, he figured this must be what keeps her sane in this place.

“You… Syndra…” he called and she looked over at him, green paint smudged on her face right below her eyes. He refrained from rolling his eyes at her, but asked his question anyways. “What is your favorite color, seeing as you like paint… I thought I would ask.” He said and she stared at him in confusion. She wasn’t sure why he was talking to her, he guessed. He waited for a moment, but once she didn’t do anything other than stare at him… he decided it was time to move along and he sat down with another book.

:-:

Weeks flew past… and not once had she answered any of his questions… he was getting slightly annoyed with her, but he didn’t show it… he was only asking questions every day to try and find something to do so he could hear himself speak, especially since his mother hadn’t come back to visit in a while.

He had asked one question every day… he believed he was on question… um… twenty six now… his previous questions were redundant at times, but he had been bored and had decided to just ask everything that came to mind. After every question he would watch to see how she would react to said question. Some amused him, and some amused her, but she never answered any of them and he was becoming bored. However, thinking over each question he had asked… he supposed quite a few of them he wouldn’t have answered either.

_ When did you come here? _

She had given him an odd look on this question, one that was one of those looks that said, ‘Uh… not by choice obviously.’ He had found her reaction amusing, and had decided to let her silence go on that one. He had gone to sleep that night trying to come up with another question for her. This was becoming an amazing way to pass the time, even though it had only been like… five days since he had been here. But that meant nothing… it was keeping him busy instead of him reading the same page in a book in circles without grasping a single word on the page.

_ Your favorite midgardian creature? I enjoy the presence of cats. _

He had said this, interrupting her from her wall sketching, but she didn’t seem to mind. A small smile had crossed her lips as he told her that he enjoyed cats. That part was actually true. From what he had seen of cats they were treated like kings on earth. He wouldn’t mind being in the form of one just to be treated like a king for a day, he mused.

_ How do you know Thor? _

She had dropped her brush when he had asked this and he was curious as to why this question had bothered her so much. He’d seen how her brows had furrowed in silent anger, her hands curled into fists, and she turned away from him. He could tell that he wasn’t going to get a reply on this one so he had just sat down with the same book he always held.

_ What do you do all day? I've only ever seen you sit over there in silence… and draw on the wall. _

Her reaction to this was only a raised brow and a roll of the eyes.

_ Do you like magic and illusions? _

To this one she had become slightly excited, she had opened her mouth as if she had wanted to ask something, but she dropped her raised hand and a frown crossed her lips. She had then killed off all her excitement and turned away from him completely.

_ Have you ever listened to the Midgardian music? _

To this one she had given him an unsure look, but she didn’t repeat her reaction from the day before. She had smiled, but it was a thoughtful one, as if she were actually pondering on saying something.

_ Your favorite food? _

He had asked this one at meal time where he had a hearty plate of meat and veggies, while she had a bowl full of what looked like slop. She had given him an offended glance and pointed at her bowl and shook her head with a roll of the eyes. He took this response as ‘Obviously not this crap.’

_  How old are you? _

He had asked this while she was turned away from him and once she heard the question, she had slapped her hands to her hips and narrowed her eyes in a disapproving manner. He figured she thought his question was impolite… he believed there was a saying on earth that said it was impolite for a gentleman to ask the age of a woman, and he should wait for her to tell him. But he wasn’t a gentleman now was he?

_  Do you like art? _

This one was redundant and she had given him the most amusing stare that made him think she was calling him stupid.

_ Does the silence ever bother you? _

He had woken her to ask this one, so when she rolled over and stared at him with her unamused glowing blue eyes, he had gone silent. It wasn’t that he cared that he had woken her… it was just more so he was stunned into silence due to the way she bore a hole through him with her stare.

_  Why do you think I'm here? _

This one she had raised a brow and cocked her head to the side for. He supposed she either already knew, didn’t care, or didn’t care to know. However, he had continued to catch her glance aimed at him for the rest of the day, which told him she probably knew and was probably judging him, either way… he didn’t care.

_  If you knew why I was here would you judge me for it? _

Or maybe he did… maybe when he had asked this he was just curious… but maybe he just genuinely wanted to know. She had responded to this with saddened blue eyes and a frown. As if she didn’t quite know how to respond without making the situation worse.

_  Why are you so fond of your favorite color? _

She had just stared at him when he had asked this one, but he could tell she was actually pondering a response… but yet again this response never came.

_ What would you do if you ever got out of here? _

Her lips had trembled and her eyes had begun to water. This had made his chest hurt. Perhaps she had a family waiting for her… perhaps she had been trying to do something with her life… maybe she had even had a loved one that relied on her… he couldn’t tell what exactly made him feel so bad for her because of this… but he knew his guilt was most likely caused because he knew that if he got out of this place he had many things to apologize for… mainly to his mother… but another face had flashed through his mind as well… Sigyn.

_ Do you get annoyed with my questions? _

He had asked this to see if she would give him an irritated look, but she didn’t… she just smiled.

_  Do you think I'd care of you did become irate with my constant questioning? _

This one she rolled her eyes to… she knew he was bored.

_  How can you sleep over there? You have no bed. _

This one he genuinely wanted to know, seeing as how he had been spoiled all his life and had always had the best of the best when it came to beds. He had never had a single complaint when it came to his sleeping habits because he was always comfortable no matter where he slept. After he asked her this, a frown crossed her lips and she looked away from him. She stared at his bed and he furrowed his brows as she did so. Maybe she wanted a bed? He didn’t know, but he knew he was not going to get an answer out of her..

_  You look around like the light hurts your eyes, does it? _

She had shaken her head in response to this question, and that was the end of it. she didn’t look at him for the rest of the day so he figured he had offended her somehow but that didn’t really seem to matter to him just yet.

_  Does my hair look ok to you? _

She had laughed at this one, actually laughed. It had been such a lovely noise that it had felt forbidden to him. He had been staring at his reflection when he had asked her, but once she began laughing he felt like he was frozen in place. He had tried to wrap his mind around the concept of why her laugh had affected him in such a manner, but he supposed it was due to the fact that he had never heard such a genuine laugh directed at him because of something he had said. It felt… nice… to have someone enjoy something you say…

_ I'm dreadfully bored, are you? _

She had nodded to this one, and he had tried to offer her a book but she had looked at him funny and he rolled his eyes. He didn’t know why he had offered her the book, there was no way she would receive it from him either way.

Today… he was irritated. With what, he had no idea. He was just crabby today, and he had no reason to be. He sighed and rolled a ball into the wall, just for it to reverberate off the wall and bounce back at him. He continued to do this for hours, he just sat there, ever so bored and fed up with everything that this was the best he could do to amuse himself and it wasn’t working. He groaned and flopped backwards onto the floor. He looked into her cell and he couldn’t help the fact that his lip curled up in such distaste.

She was the reason for his anger today, or if she wasn’t she was going to be on the receiving end of his irritation. She blinked in confusion when he had snarled at her, she didn’t understand what she had done to upset him, and he didn’t feel like explaining it. He was just so irritated with everything and everyone. She looked at him with such sympathetic eyes that it made him even angrier to even look in her direction. He turned away from her and grit his teeth.

“See… this is what I don’t get about you… you sit over there every single day and you laugh, nod, or shake your head at my questions, not once have you given me an answer… why is this?” he sneered and turned to face her, she had a frown on her lips, but every other part of her was expressionless… he fisted his hands and released a deep irritated laugh. “Are you deaf? I swear I'm taking to a wall.” He snapped, and she just stared at him… even after the lights had clicked off… she still just continued to stare at him.

:-:

He woke the next day much more rested, and a lot less angry. She still just continued to watch him, and he couldn’t understand the allure of watching him do absolutely nothing all day. She was in the same place she had been sitting the night before when he had yelled at her, still sitting right in front of the wall separating their two cells. She didn’t look like she had slept at all, she more so looked like she was upset. Not with him… it didn’t appear she was upset with him or what he had done…

Perhaps it had been something she had seen during the night that had upset her so. Whatever it was… he couldn’t figure it out. He sat on his sofa and sighed, he rubbed his eyes and leaned his head back. He sat there for what felt like two hours, just sitting there. There wasn’t much else to do either way… so… he just did what made him comfortable at that moment. Soon enough he had drifted off without realizing it, he jumped up and looked around, she was still right there, except this time she was humming lightly.

“You hum… but you never reply to me… why is that?” he asked and her gentle hums stopped. She looked up at him and his brows furrowed, her hair was slowly becoming white and her eyes were no longer fixed. They looked just as they had before his mother fixed them. That was when he heard the first bangle roll across the floor. The second one rolled over and hit the wall in between the cells. He raised a brow as he watched her hair become pure white and fall to her waist. It was interesting, but now he knew she was not of Midgard. This made him all the more interested in her.

“You're different than I originally thought… interesting.” He said and made his way over to his bed where he sat cross legged and tried to gather his thoughts.

:-:

The guards were talking about Thor again and he frowned. Love… Thor in love? What an odd thing. Perhaps the loyalty Sigyn held for him was her showing her love… Loki didn’t know exactly what love was… but he was pretty sure that Sigyn fit the description of what love was… he glanced over to his neighbor and he furrowed his brows gently. Perhaps she would know what this… Love… felt like. He looked over to his stack of book and nodded, he figured his mother would have left him some fictional tale in the stack that would have some sort of romantic coupling in it…

She always had wanted him to be affectionate, and less crammed into a book…

He grasped the first book on the pile and set it aside, it was the book on sorcery. The next one made him chuckle. It was a book on what to do when you have all the time in the world. He figured that one was from Sif, she would send him a low blow like that to mock him for being in prison. He sighed and filtered through the pile. There were lots of books on Norse mythology, which he had to refrain from rolling his eyes at, seeing as one was labeled Loki the trickster. There was Thor, God of thunder, Sif and the Warriors three, Frigga, and one on Odin himself.

Loki couldn’t help but set the eye roll free… this was some sort of joke. He furrowed his brow and walked over to the table where he had set the book he had been trying to read for the last 28 days, but to no avail. He lifted it up and raised a brow. He hadn’t even read the cover or anything. It was a book on dark elves. This was quite possibly the reason he had been reading in circles, the words weren’t even words. They were in the language of the dark elves.

He sighed, none of this was any help to him whatsoever. He looked back over to where Syndra was painting on her wall once more. He raised a brow and walked over to the wall between the two cells. She had seen him come over and she turned to face him, her hands on her hips in a casual manner, there was no doubt she had been waiting on this question of the day. She smiled at him softly and he sighed, great… now he didn’t feel like asking her anything. She would possibly get the wrong idea.

“I have one last question for you.” He said and she tilted her head in confusion. “Do you understand this… Love… the guards and my brother talk about? That Thor talks about…?” he asked and she blinked at him but then a slow smile crossed her lips. She said nothing else and he sighed and flopped onto his chair and glared at her from his cell. This dreadful woman was getting on his nerves.

:-:

He had gone an entire day without looking at her or even so much as turning towards her cell. She thought she was cute or something, listening to him speak this entire time and not even giving a legitimate response. It was the last day of his first month in this cell and he was irritated beyond belief. She was over there, humming happily once more and she had yet to say an actual word to him. He sighed and walked over to his bed and planted himself face first into the mattress.

He heard her amused giggle from across the room. “I see you're finally tired of asking questions.” She said, her voice held a soft tone but it was an amused one all the same. “Only because you refused to utter a single word, despicable woman.” He grumbled and she tilted her head to the side. “I'm despicable? You're the one asking women how old they are. I might as well ask you how old you are, no doubt you're much older than me.” she laughed and he rolled his eyes.

“Well how about this… in apology for being so antisocial… despite my inability to speak until the spell wore off… I will answer each of your questions…” she said and he leaned up to look at her. “Spell? You were unable to speak?” he asked and she smiled at him softly. Her wording made her seem snarky, but her soft concerned tone told a completely different story. He gave her a dirty look but she still smiled at him. “How about I give you your first answer?” she asked and he continued to stare at her through narrowed eyes.

“Fine.” He said and she sat down in front of her side of the wall. “Come, sit.” She said and he sighed, but rolled off the bed and made his way over to the wall and sat down right in front of her. “I very much enjoy reading…” she said and he offered an interested look. “My reading style is about life, like… the different realms… I enjoy books about art, and I enjoy reading about sorcery.” She said and he nodded. “so you're an intellectual type, huh?” he asked and she nodded.

“I enjoy learning.” She said and he watched her carefully. “I enjoy trying new things and learning all about different races. Dark elves and Frost giants I know all about… but Asgardians, Midgardians… I know nothing about them or those of the other realms. I'm always searching for…” she began but her eyes became downcast and she frowned deeply. “I _was_ always searching for new books on each of the realms but in the time that I have been here… I have had no such luck at getting any new books.” She said and he frowned.

“That’s understandable… seeing as you can't leave this place.” He sighed and stood. “I'm going to bed now…” he said, just as the lamps lining the hallways flickered out to leave them in the darkness once more. “I’ll be looking forward to your answer tomorrow, Syndra.” He said and she smiled. “Of course… twenty eight answers for twenty eight questions…” she replied and he nodded before he slipped into his bed.

 

Ok so first ever marvel story! This is going to be absolutely so much fun for me! As I said, I own nothing, and I highly doubt I could every come up with anything as amazing as the marvel comics. So, I hope you enjoyed so far and I will have the second chapter up soon.


	2. Her Answers

Chapter 2 of Birds of a Feather. I do not own marvel or the avengers, Obviously.

  Loki watched as she put the finishing touches on her wall painting… it was the best rendering of the bifrost he had seen in a while, what made it even more amazing was that she had done it in a cell with restricted access to supplies. “Isn’t it lovely?” she asked, her voice soft, as if she were still not used to speaking.

“How long has it been since you’ve uttered a single word?” he asked and she placed her paint supplies in the corner only to turn back to him and frown, the thoughtful gleam in his eyes told him that it had been quite some time since she had last spoken to anyone. “When I got here your mother put a spell on me so I couldn’t speak, it wasn’t for the safety of others… but for my own. She thought that if I could talk I may say something that could let someone in on my past and then I would be in danger.” She explained and he nodded, not quite understanding, yet fully understanding all the same; as if that even made sense.

It did in his mind anyways…

She sat down in front of the transparent wall with a small smile as she tucked her pure white locks behind her ear. He sat down in front of her and crossed his legs. “So when did you see the Bifrost?” he asked and she rocked her head to the side and thought it over for a minute, but decided not to explain yet.

“I will tell you about that later.” She said and he nodded. “That’s fine.” He said and her small smile widened a bit. “Alright, so I know you're waiting on more answers, right?” she asked and he tried to keep his interest a secret but the small interested gleam in his eye betrayed him, and he knew it once she pursed her lips in an amused manner.

 “You do know that I will not be answering your questions in quite the same order as in which they were asked, correct?” she asked and he nodded, he could somewhat understand why she was not going to answer all of his questions in the same order… some questions he had asked were quite personal and she may not yet be ready to share that information with him just yet.

She sighed and rocked back in her sitting position. “Well… where should I start?” she sighed softly as she leaned towards the barrier once more. She pursed her lips and then decided on which reply she was going to give. “You asked if my family visits me here… that would be a no.” she said and he nodded.

“That figures though… doesn’t it?” he asked and she nodded. “My father passed away about a year ago, the whereabouts of my mother are unknown, supposedly she has passed away as well, seeing as she would find some way to message me if she had known where I was…” she sighed and he pursed his lips.

“I wouldn’t dwell on it…” he said and she glanced at him. “Mine rarely drag themselves down here to grace me with their presence… so I think it’s just the fact that we are in a prison that spoils everything for us.” He said and she nodded slowly. “Possibly…” she sighed and looked to the wall where their food had just been slipped in.

“Bon appetite’ I suppose.” He sighed and she shook her head with a small amused smile, but didn’t make any effort to eat what they had slid to her. He, however, stood and grabbed his plate that looked much more appetizing that the slop they were trying to feed her. She released one more gentle smile…

_He was being looked after by his family… even if he didn’t think so._

:-:

They woke the next morning to the rest of the prisoners yelling loudly at one another from their cells. Apparently the guards had brought in new prisoners this morning and they knew some of the prisoners from other cells. Evidently, the fact that they knew each other wasn’t a good thing. The two groups of men had been yelling at each other for the past hour and a half, threatening to kill one another the moment they were released.

“Lovely breakfast conversation, isn’t it?” Loki asked from his cell and she couldn’t resist the smile that had broke across her lips. He was just as annoyed with this noise as she was. “Absolutely.” She replied as the guards walked in with food trays. Usually they would only give her something that closely resembled oatmeal, but this time there was something different on the platter.

It looked like eggs and toast and she stared at her plate oddly for the longest time because she couldn’t understand why they had suddenly decided to change what they fed her. She watched it for a moment, expecting it to turn into that nasty oatmeal once more but it didn’t. She prodded it with her fork and furrowed her brows.

“Never had eggs before?” he asked and she shot him a look. “Not with steak… but I haven’t had anything other than the dreadful oatmeal since I’ve been here. I believe I have an odd feeling about this. I don’t believe they would suddenly change what they want me to eat without a reason. I think that they may have something planned for me.” She said and he set his fork down. “Well… that is unfortunate…” he sighed, but watched as she slowly eat her breakfast.

He left the steak on his plate and eat the eggs and toast, just like she had. He walked over and sat across from her once more.  “Ok, so…. Another answer?” she asked and he nodded. She offered a small smile. “Never thought you would ever be so interested in such a unworthy soul such as mine. I must say this is quite delightful.” She said and he rolled his eyes. “You asked about my favorite color, I’m going to have to say that it is… Green.” She said and he quirked a brow ever so slightly. “Not just any color green either… um… sort of like…” she began but he grasped his robes and held them up. “Like this color?” he asked and she nodded. “Yes, like that but also variations of it as well.” She said and he nodded.

“I like green as well, it’s been my favorite since I was a small child.” He said and she smiled, listening intently as he spoke. They talked about all the things that were their favorite color, and how she could use different shades of green to paint so many different things, it still have it look like it was supposed to and still be gorgeous. They had continued to talk until he had yawned, his eyes drooping ever so slightly.

“You’re tired?” she asked and he shook his head, but they looked around and noticed that the lights had clicked off most likely hours ago, and they haven’t realized it. “I think we should get some sleep because the two groups that are constantly screaming at each other are most likely going to wake us up again.” She said with a slightly amused tone, but her eyes showed her irritation, as did his.

“Good night, Loki.” She said as she made her way to her corner and laid to where she could stare up at her image of the bifrrost.

:-:

As they had predicted, those men were going at it once more. Syndra sighed and looked over to their cells; she wished they would just be silent. If they had choked on their dinner the night before she would have cared very little. Their foul mouths and rude demeanors ruined her mornings, which she knew amused the guards, seeing as they had put them in the cell right beside hers and moved the other group of men to the cell across from theirs. She glanced over at Loki’s cell and saw him propped up against the back of his chair once more. “Can’t sleep any longer?” She asked and he shook his head. She nodded and looked up at her ceiling.

“You asked about my eyes.” She said softly and he rolled his head to look at her.

“My eyes were not meant to see sunlight. I can see clearly, but only when I am not in direct sunlight. My irises have… broken.” She said and he furrowed his brows. “It is part of who I am you see…” she said, then frowned as she shook her head. “What… I am…” she said and he watched her questioningly. “What is that supposed to mean?” he asked and she frowned deeper.

“Nothing… it means absolutely nothing; because I’m nothing. I promise.” She said and he chuckled. “If you are nothing, then I suppose that I as well, am nothing.” He said and she looked at him with furrowed brows. “Why do you say that?” she asked and he rolled his eyes.

“Well, you see, I found out some information that makes me none too happy with the goings on around in Asgard.” He said and she listened intently. “I’m a frost giant, dear… not a full blood, as you can tell… but I am one and only found out a year ago due to… certain circumstances.” He said and she watched him carefully. She didn’t want to say anything and offend him, seeing as she knew what he had done to the frost giants. She didn’t very well wish to upset him by bringing it up either.

 She just smiled and walked over to her art wall and sat cross legged in front of it and began staring up at it with a small content smile on her lips, although her mind was abuzz with questions she wanted to ask Loki, although she was definitely in no place to ask him anything.

:-:

When she had awoken the next morning there were boxes of pencils and expensive drawing book sitting on the floor by the barrier. Syndra furrowed her brows and made her way over to them. There were a variety of colored pencils in the small pile as well. She crawled over to the barrier and peered around to see if she could see who left them. There was no one down either way of the halls, so she frowned and carefully picked up the art supplies, seeing as though they weren’t going to be leaving her cell either way.

She couldn’t wait until Frigga came back to visit her, she was going to show her all the wonderful things she had painted on her wall. Frigga would enjoy seeing it, she thought. She glanced over towards Loki with a small glint in her eyes. “You said your favorite animal was a cat, right Loki?” she asked and he made a noise from agreement from across the room.

“I like cats, too… they’re majestic and… they remind me of royalty in how they hold themselves. I also like wolves, for their pack mentality and loyalty to one another” She said and heard him make another noise from across his room. She furrowed her brows lightly, she was curious as to what was making him seem so uninterested today.

She crawled over to their conjoining wall and saw that he was face down in his couch, a book dangling from his grasp. A slow smile crossed her lips and she resisted the urge to giggle by pursing her lips and killing the smile before the giggles could escape. “Still tired?” she asked, her tone soft, but the hint of amusement was still there.

“But there’s nothing new about that… now is there?” he asked and she laughed, but turned back to her art pad and began sketching. She figured she’d already answered his question for today, so she would leave him be.

:-:

Heavy footsteps announced the arrival of another person in the dungeon. Syndra could tell this person was not a guard, and the explanation as to why was simple. Without even opening her eyes, she could tell their posture was lax, their feet sounded heavy because of the way they ever so slightly drug their feet across the floor, and the way the aura of the dungeon had changed. The area felt lighter and less angry.

“Thor, how are you today?’ she asked from her corner, her eyes still closed. “I am well, and how are you today?” he asked and a small smile crossed her lips. “I am well.” She replied and he nodded with a small smile. She could feel Loki’s eyes boring into her, questioning her, assessing her… She knew the fact she spoke with Thor so candidly confused him and angered him all the same.

Thor sat down in front of the barrier in the front and she watched him carefully. “Come, sit and speak with me.” He said and motioned for the spot in front of the barrier on her side. Syndra stood and made her way over to the spot and sat before him. They spoke softly, which intrigued Loki, seeing as he couldn’t hear them anymore. He moved so he could see their facial expressions, and was surprised to see tears falling over Syndra’s cheeks.

She didn’t seem like the type to cry over anything simple, so he figured that it must be important to her. It also seemed that her expression was one of utter sadness. Her sadness physically hurt him, because it wasn’t just any sadness, it was the horrid angered and hurt type of sadness that had caused him to yell at Odin.

“WHY!?” She asked, her voice a cross between a sob and a snarl. The sound of her voice struck with him as well, and something told him that she was suffering in the same manner in which he had been. His attentions were turned back to them once Thor had begun to speak once more. Thor had only spoken to him in this manner when he was trying to destroy Jotunheim. A sneer crossed Loki’s lips, it appeared that Thor was treating her like he had treated him. She may very well fall into his sugarcoated words and soft promises, but in the end Thor could do nothing for her.

It was a few minutes before Thor finally left and she had turned to face the back wall of her cell. Her eyes darted over to meet his, as if she knew he had been watching her. “He can’t help you.” Loki said and she narrowed her eyes at you. “How do you know?” she asked, a slight biting tone in her voice. Loki watched her for a moment before he offered a desperate smile.

“Because he tried to help me and look where I am. And to think I only wished to make father proud.” Loki sighed and she looked down at her hands. He could smell her fresh tears and he stood to walk over to the small barrier separating them. “Don’t worry dear, I promise you’ll get out of here before you know it.” He said as he looked down on her. She was such a delicate woman, fragile emotions, failing sight, and a kind heart… he could see her kind heart.

He could resonate with her rage… with her sadness… and with her hope.

 “You don’t have to answer my question about your companionship with Thor… because I know he promised to save you.” Loki said and she looked up at him with sad eyes. “I’m going to be completely honest with you here… after getting to know who you are as a person… and seeing those emotions you lock away… you remind me of someone I know… and Thor would do anything to save that person.” Loki began, watching as Thor stood by the entrance of the dungeon, commanding the guards. Syndra didn’t know the person that he was saying Thor would give anything to save was in fact Loki himself.

“And… I think that if anyone reminded us of said person that much… I think anyone would give everything they had to save that person. Because it is a very slippery slope from wanting to be noticed to doing terrible things to get that attention.” Loki said and turned to make his way over to his couch to sit and ponder what exactly he had meant by that.

:-:

It was late in the afternoon the next day and she hadn’t even looked his direction. He sighed and glanced over to see her sitting there against her wall. She was sketching something and he could hear the slow, rhythmic swipes of the pencil against the paper. He felt slightly upset thinking he had upset her. “If you don’t stop moving I’m going to get irritated.” She said out of nowhere and he froze in place.

“Hm?” she shot him another look and held up a single finger. “Don’t move at all.” She whispered and she continued to scribble on her pad of paper. He was thoroughly confused now. “You almost made me mess up the proportions…” she said as a smile broke out across her lips. He blinked and made his way over to the barrier so he could see what she was drawing.

“You asked what I did all day… So you have no say in what I’ve done, ok?” she asked and he furrowed his brow in confusion. “Ok…” he said and she turned the art pad to him. It looked like a shorter haired, younger version of him. “Very nice…” he said after a moment of hesitation. “How did you know how to draw me like that?” he asked and she smiled at him. “Your mother used to come talk to me about her young son Loki… I didn’t really understand why she was so upset about what had happened to you until you arrived here. Now I understand why she loves you so.” She said and He blinked at her, his brows furrowing in confusion.

“She may not be your birth mother, but you are both alike. And I like that… I see her in you.” Syndra said and he watched her for a minute, before he chuckled and made his way over to his couch and sat down. “You’re strange for a blind woman.” He said and she laughed softly.

“Only in the sunlight… any other time and I see everything clearly.”

:-:

She sat by her painting and continued to draw. He found it interesting that she could just continuously get the inspiration to draw day after day. He couldn’t get the motivation to roll off his bed, much less move over to his couch to read his books. He somewhat admired her resilience and motivation when it came to things like this.

It seemed to him she could hear terrible news one day and then the next be absolutely perfectly fine with everything as if the troubling thing never happened.it was strange, but he found that trait admirable. As the humans have said before they treat things like this as if it were ‘water off the duck’s back.’

Movement in the corner of his eye made him turn towards his mother’s image. “Mother.” He greeted and she smiled at him. He knew she was just an illusion but this was one of the many things his mother had taught him, how to create illusory clones. “How are you feeling mother?” he asked and she smiled.

“I am well. I heard you’re making friends.” She said and he shrugged. “Oh, dear, don’t be so shy.” She laughed lightly and he rolled his eyes. “I never said I was making friends, mother.” He scoffed and Frigga quirked a brow at him. “You know just as well as anyone else that Heimdall sees everything.” She said and he grit his teeth.

“So what. I can talk to people if I wish.” He snapped and she smiled softly. “Of course dear… I was just making sure you were ok is all…” she said, her tone slightly hurt at the attitude she was getting from him. He saw the hurt glimmer in her eyes and he sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Forgive me, mother…” he sighed and she offered him the slightest bit of a smile.

“It’s ok, dear, just know I’m here for you.” She said as her illusion brushed his stray hair back behind his ear. Her image vanished and he looked over to see Syndra staring in a slight state of awe. “You… You asked me if I liked magic…” she began and he blinked at her before he nodded.

“I love magic.” She said and he motioned for her to sit in front of the barrier. She was confused at first, but then his genuine smile made her come to sit. His aura reminded her of his mother’s just then, and she know knew why she thought they were so alike. He enjoyed teaching his tricks to others with the ability to use them, just as his mother had taught him. A small smile crossed Syndra’s lips. It brought him joy to show off what he could do, and this was proved by the next words he spoke to her.

“Then why don’t I teach you what my mother taught me.”

:-:

 Days flew past and she continued to answer his questions, day by day. He had become increasingly interested with each one she answered and it had begun to make her feel like he may actually want to be her friend. She enjoyed his explanations of why he had asked certain questions and he was enjoying her responses as well.

…

**“ _You asked about my favorite Midgardian music…”_**

_“I enjoy all sorts of their music, so it’s hard to decide. I had never heard music before someone brought me some of theirs to listen to… it was amazing…”_

_…._

**_“My favorite food…” she began with a sigh_ ** _._

_“ **I** really enjoy chicken and beef… I have no particular meal I enjoy, because I love to eat… when it doesn’t look and taste like the slop they serve me here.”_

_….._

**_“My… age…”_ **

_“I refuse to answer this one because obviously your mother never taught you it Was rude to ask a woman her age.” She said and he had laughed at her._

_“Oh, mother had taught me that when I was young, but that particular question was to try and get a response out of you.” He said and she rolled her eyes slightly, a smile on her lips._

_……._

**_“If I liked art…”_ **

_She couldn’t keep her smile a secret when she had answered this one. She pointed at the wall with the intricate painting of the Bifrost, and then she grabbed her book that had since been filled with drawings. “I must saw, you make a lovely art subject.” She said and placed the book down in front of her so he could see as well._

_“You drew me?” he asked, he seemed utterly surprised and she laughed at this. “Of course. I had no other inspiration you see… except you because you were always doing something different every day, even though it was always the same thing.”_

_….._

_“ **You asked If the silence bothers me…”**_

_She sighed and shook her head. “Sometimes I enjoy the silence much more than talking, which is why whenever I thought you needed space, I didn’t say a word. I always answered your questions… but I did so and then left you alone.”_

_…._

**_“You asked why I thought you were here…”_ **

_“I knew why you were here, I always knew. The guards always spoke of Loki, destroyer of Jotunheim and attempted destroyer of Midgard.” She said softly and he watched her with wide eyes. He looked like he was at a complete loss for words. The rage flew through his eyes and he instantly stood and stormed off to the other side of the room._

_…._

**_“You asked if I would judge…”_ **

_This had caught his attention, seeing as she hadn’t said anything to him all day. He thought he had run her off with his previous bit of anger. “I would never judge someone for wanting someone to look up to them… I would never judge anyone for trying to show their parents that they are worthy, or are responsible enough to do something…” she said and he frowned, his eyes were soft and she knew she had hit a nerve there._

_“I only wanted father to treat me like he treated Thor…I only ever wanted him to be proud of me.”_

_….._

**_“Why I like my favorite color.”_ **

_“I enjoy green because green is the color of life. It is the color of a thriving enviorment. It is beauty… it is everything that Jot-“ she began but caught herself… he watched her with curious eyes because he had heard the catch in her voice, as subtle as it had been._

_“It represents everything my home was not.”_

_….._

**_“You asked what I would do if I ever got out of here”_ **

_“I want to start a family somewhere that I do not have to fear for the live of my children. I want to be somewhere that I will not be hated for what I am, but treated as an equal. I… I just want to be happy.”_

_…._

**_“You Asked if I was bothered your questions….”_ **

_“I’m rarely bothered by anything, so I enjoyed hearing someone speak to me rather than hearing the others yelling about how they weren’t supposed to be in here._

**_…._ **

**_“You asked if I thought you cared if I did get annoyed.”_ **

_That wasn’t really a question, that was just you trying to be sassy, and either way… it never bothered me. I’m not used to anyone talking to me like you talk to me. It is refreshing.”_

_….._

**_“How do I sleep…”_ **

_“I’ve never had a bed, so… I’m used to it…” she had said and he almost regretted asking the question because he had always been spoiled. He felt for her… in a way he realized he had always had it better than her and while he complained about the luxuries he had, had…. She never once complained about anything._

_….._

**_“You asked if hair looked ok.”_ **

_“Typical… but yes. Your hair is always fine, if you haven’t seen mine lately you shouldn’t worry about yours.”_

_…._

**_“You asked if I was bored.”_ **

_“Of course.. I was always bored before you came…”_

_….._

**_“You asked if I were deaf.”_ **

_“Obviously not.”=_

:-:

Loki sat at the barrier and waited for her to come over to it. This had become a daily thing for them now. He felt a sense of comfort that her presence gave him that nothing else ever had. She trotted over to the barrier and sat down softly, a smile on her lips.

“Today’s question is… why did I come to Asgard.” She said and he nodded. “This is going to have to be explained a bit better than just why I came here… but I’m not sure how to explain this without upsetting you…” she said and he was confused as to why she would upset him by talking about it. He rolled his eyes and motioned for her to continue. “I promise you won’t anger me or upset me. The only one who can do that at this moment is Thor.” He chuckled and she frowned but nodded. “Alright…” her voice was hesitant and within reason too.

“I didn’t quite have any choice but to come here…” she said and he furrowed his brows.  “If I hadn’t come here, I would have died.” She said and he frowned. “I came here seeking refuge, and I snuck in.” she explained and he furrowed his brows, not understanding how she “snuck” into Asgard.

“How did you manage that?” he asked and she frowned.

“You let me in. You showed me the way, even though I didn’t know it was you…” she said and his eyes swam with confusion. He didn’t understand it what so ever. “Syndra… what are you saying?” he asked and she frowned. “I’m saying that I was going to die and you unknowingly saved me, although sometimes I think that Odin saved me in the end…” she said and he ran a hand through his hair. She was being vague, but descriptive all the same and for one of his intellect, he wasn’t getting it and it angered him.

He tugged at his hair for a second then looked at her and took a deep breath. “Alright… you are really confusing me right now… so I think I will try to figure this out one step at a time.” He said and she nodded. “You’re saying I showed you the way in, but the only ones I ever led here were the frost giants and then I destroyed Jotunheim.” He said and she watched him for a second. His jaw slackened as it clicked in his mind.

“Oh…” he said, “I see…” he whispered as he sat back down, but not even remotely as graceful as he had been. “I did lead you here.”

:-:

It had been three days and yet Loki had yet to come away from his couch. She supposed he had felt truly guilty about what she had told him, but he hadn’t given her time to explain any of it either. She watched as he stared at the same exact page, his eyes not moving; but he held such a steady gaze on the page one would think he was desperately trying to keep concentrated on the book.

She frowned and decided that she was going to talk to him even if he didn’t answer. She told him it might upset him and yet he wanted her to continue to explain it. She couldn’t be angry at herself, but she also couldn’t b e upset with him either because he was curious. She knew he wasn’t going to say sorry for asking, but he didn’t need to.

“You asked why I am in here…” she said and heard him move the slightest bit. “That’s because I handed myself over to Odin. He promised he wouldn’t kill me if I went willingly.” She said and he made no noise whatsoever. “I feared for my life, so the safest place for me at the time would be here, in a prison.” She said and she heard him sigh. “And why, pray tell, would a prison be the safest place for you?” he asked and the urge to crack a smile was overwhelming.

“Because if my grandfather finds me he would exploit me.” She said and he rolled to face her from his couch, not rising to look at her; but he was still showing his interest. “You also asked why I never answered you.” She said and he sighed once more. He thought she was going to explain why her grandfather would end up exploiting her.

“Your mother gave me those bangles so my appearance and voice would change. If anyone who knows my grandfather were to tell him I was here, there could be a lot of trouble. I know the location to a secret artifact that was supposed to be destroyed long ago.” She said and he nodded. “The glowing blue objects of doom again, I suppose?” he asked and she couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her, seeing as she had heard about the glowing blue objects of doom. Loki’s scepter, the tesseract, the frost giant’s coffin… there were many.

“Um… no actually this one is red.” She said and he quirked a brow. “Oh, how interesting! A new color for an object of doom! How thrilling.” He said and she could tell he was being sarcastic, but she could also tell he didn’t mean to come off as rude either way. “Of course. We can’t just have everything blue.” She laughed and shook her head at him.

“Alright, because you threw me off schedule, I have had to answer three of your questions in a single day. So… here’s the last one. You asked me if I understood love. Like the love Thor has for the Midgardian woman, jane.” She said and he made his way over to the barrier and sat down.

“I do understand that love.” She said and he listened intently. The glint in his eyes was like a young child at story time. “When you love someone, you love everything about them, not just their looks. You see, someone can be beautiful and have the heart of a cruel demon from the pits of hell. You have to learn to love everything they have for you.” She explained and he continued to listen in silence. “When you truly love someone, the sound of their heartbeat calms all your worries. The sound of their laugh makes you smile, the things that make them excited and happy make you happy and excited as well, even if you don’t like the thing they enjoy. It is just the fact that it makes you happy that makes you happy.” She explained and he blinked.

He knew deep down he should feel some of this already, and he knew that everything she was describing was basically what he should be feeling. And she described loyalty… one person came to mind when it came to being downright loyal from the ends of the universe and back… it was Sigyn… he knew he should feel so many of these things towards her…

But all he felt was guilt. Not because he had ever cheated on her, because he hadn’t… he had never done anything wrong to the woman… but he had never done anything right for her either… and yet she still followed him to hell and back just to try and prove to him that she was loyal to him….

And that…. THAT was why he felt guilt.  



	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3! Thank you so much for those who have enjoyed this so far. : )

He tried his hardest to make it seem like he was no longer interested, but that was excruciatingly difficult. Every move she made over there caught his eye and made him want to ask yet another question. He sighed as her movements had once more caught his eyes. He turned to face the wall and looked over at his books. The red one caught his eye and his thoughts drifted back to what she had told him about the red artifact she’d spoke of.

‘A red artifact huh?’ the thought bounced through his mind and he couldn’t figure out what artifact she could be talking about, although he supposed that there could be thousands of artifacts out there. Not all of them could possibly be a different color, he supposed that not all artifacts were the blue of Syndra’s eyes. He especially couldn’t figure it out because he figured frost giants had a thing for blue things. His attentions were drawn back to her when he heard her clothes rustle.

She was smiling at him. “Do you want to talk?” she asked, that brilliant and excited glint in her eyes. “No, I’m ok.” He said with a sharp tone, he hadn’t meant to take said tone with her it had just come out like that. He shifted to glare down at his book that he’d grabbed once she’d caught his attention again. He was trying so hard to not ask questions but it was hard. He really wanted to talk to her but he also knew the more he talked to her the more Heimdal would tell his mother. He continued to stare at the page in his book, the same words fluttering through his mind.

“Are you sure you didn’t want to talk?” she asked. He looked over at her and his eyes couldn’t focus on her at first, but then he saw her face, she was frowning at him softly. Her tone had been so soft and concerned, and this made him frown. The lights were out and this elicited yet another sigh from him. He’d been glaring at that same page for hours… “I’m sure…” he whispered and turned to face his wall. “Okay…” She whispered softly and he waited until he no longer heard movement from her before he turned to look at her once more. He frowned, seeing her curled up into her own side in her cell. It wasn’t long before he too, curled up on his bed and drifted off to sleep.

However, it had been less than three hours before he woke once more. He couldn’t figure out what had woke him, but he was searching. He looked around, expecting there to be someone in his cell, or someone in another cell being noisy… but there was nothing… not a single sound from any of the other cells. Once the rustling of him moving around silenced, he heard it. He looked over at Syndra and his eyes had begun to soften, there was a tinge of pity there; but then he caught it and his rational mind took over. He looked back towards his bed, but then returned his gaze to her cell.

He saw her shivering over in her cell and couldn’t help but raise a brow. “What the hell kind of frost giant are you?” he asked himself with a confused chuckle. He knew she was one of them, because he could feel it from her. Her ice magic was ok, but her illusions needed much work. She had the abilities of one, but they weren’t at quite the level of a true frost giant. “Your magic is far from being remotely alright… and you’re _COLD_ … What kind of frost giant gets cold?” he asked with a sigh that was accompanied by a roll of the eyes.

“That’s because she’s not a frost giant dear…” his mother’s voice rang out and he repressed the annoyance of having been caught off guard by her sudden appearance. “I thought…” he began, but his mother cut him off swiftly. “I know exactly what you thought dear, we all thought it at one point… but I’m trying to tell you there are more dangerous things out there than frost giants.” She began, but Loki cut her off.

“She can use ice magic mother…” “But who took the time to teach her? That was you, so it is understandable that she can.” Frigga said and Loki pursed his lips as he looked at his mother. “She has Frost Giant blood flowing through her veins, mother.” He bit out and his mother gave him a scolding look. “And so do you, but does this make you any less of my son?” she asked, daring him to bad mouth her.

“No…”

“Then listen to me…” she began and he nodded. “She has the blood of the frost giants flowing through her veins, but it is so diluted you couldn’t actually do much with it other than a few basic ice spells. Her mother, her grandmother, and her grandfather were not Frost giants, but her father was a half frost giant. She is most likely a quarter frost giant, possibly less.” Frigga explained, and this only made Loki even more curious.

“Then what is she?”

“When she is ready for you to know, she will tell you.” His mother said as she turned to look over at the shivering woman. “She really seems to like you Loki… She needs more people to talk to, because she’s been so lonely down here. She never wanted to talk to anyone, and I understood. I placed the silence spell on her for her safety… but she broke it… she must really trust you to remove the spell.” Frigga said and Loki looked over at Syndra.

“She reminds me of myself… mother…” He said and she offered him a small smile as she cupped his face. “Then find a way to save her, dear… Once you know how to save your friends… you know how to save yourself…” She said as she turned away from him to look over at Syndra once more. “Don’t let her follow your path…” she said and looked around. “I suppose I should tell Heimdall to bring her some bedding supplies.” Frigga said once more, smiling sadly at the shivering woman. He stood there in surprise, just staring at his mother.

“What dear? Did you not expect me to take care of your friends?” she asked and Loki cracked something of a small smile. “I suppose she has become something of a friend…” he said and his mother’s illusion cupped his cheeks once more with a small smile. “I love you, My Loki…” she whispered as her image faded from view. “I love you dearly, mother…” he whispered as her smiling face began to vanish. His eyes went wide and he called out the questions quickly. “Have you seen or heard from Sigyn?” he asked, but his mother shook her head as the last of her image faded.

“Oh…” he sighed softly, “I see…” Not even thirty seconds later, guards walked in with a small, but thick and comfortable looking mattress in hand. They placed it in syndra’s cell along with a small blanket, a thick comforter, and some fluffy pillows. Once the Guards left, Loki made his way to sit beside the wall between them. “Syndra.” He called out softly, and upon doing so he saw her eyes flutter open softly. Her smiled when her confused glowing gaze landed on him. “You should sleep much better now, dear.” He said softly and she furrowed her brows, but turned to look where he was pointing.

She was silent for a moment, just staring with wide eyes; but then he smelled that familiar scent. His made him want to frown, but he knew these were of happiness. The smell of fresh tears surrounded him long before the sound of her soft sobs reached his ears. He looked over and saw her gently rubbing the blankets with her fingers, her shoulders jerking as she tried to stifle her tears.

“Thank you… so much…” she whispered, her voice warbled from her sobs. “Don’t fret it… they are a gift from my mother.” He said and she looked over him with her watery eyes. “Thank you.” She whispered once more and he offered a small smile. “As I said, don’t fret it… just get you some rest and I shall get more as well.” He said and she nodded rapidly as she unfolded the blankets and shoved the mattress close to where he had just been sitting. She sat on it and a smile graced her lips as she then flopped and snuggled down into the mattress. She tried to whisper out another thank you, but her exhaustion caught up to her and she was out like a light.

He chuckled to himself and stood to make his way over to his bed as well. “You’re welcome, Syndra.”

:-:-:-:

He woke the next morning to see her parading around with her smaller blanket wrapped around her shoulders. He chuckled, but didn’t disturb her as she moved things around her room. There wasn’t much for her to move, but she was busy rearranging it in the way she wanted it, rather than having everything all crowded in one corner. He sat up and stretched, he watched her carefully from the corner of his eye as she snuggled on top of her bed with a sketch book. She had a visible glow to her and it suited her, or so he thought.

“Loki…” she called and he blinked and turned to her. “Yes?” he asked and she snuggled the blanket around her and made her way over to the wall separating them. “Will you tell me of your triumphs as a son of Odin?” she asked and he frowned. “It’s only fair, I suppose.” He said and she smiled. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” She said and he shook his head. “Oh, but I will…” he said and made his way over to her. “What would you like to know?” he asked and she pursed her lips. “Anything you will tell me.” She said and he nodded.

“How about I tell you of how I came to be in Asgard?” he asked and her eyes brightened. He offered her a small smile, although he hated the way this had been explained to him. She seemed to catch the look in his eyes and she frowned. “Never mind, Loki… you don’t have to tell me.” She said, offering a sympathetic smile. “No, I will. Do not pity me.” He said, a slight edge to his tone. He supposed he was so insistent on telling her of himself so she will tell him what she is other than Frost Giant.

“I was born as a Frost Giant in Jotunheim, except I was the size of an Asgardian infant. I was puny in their eyes. They left me in the temple with the casket to die as a sacrifice to the casket. Odin had found me and had raised me as his own.” Loki began and Syndra watched with a similar enraged type of shame in her eyes. “Even though Odin had raised me like his own, I had always known I was different. Thor was always treated so much better than I was… always.” He muttered bitterly and she offered a small smile. “Thor was the prized child, he had the strength, the power, and the stature to be a great warrior, but I was scrawny, physically weak, and had no skills with weapons whatsoever. However, my mother saw I had skills in sorcery and began teaching me. I had then begun to be known as the God of mischief, this title seems to still be a fitting one to this day.” He sighed and Syndra watched him carefully.

“Looking back on all of the thing I have done… it makes sense. I started out as god of mischief, pulling pranks and simplistic little spells to annoy people… but then I grew bitter, especially when Odin chose to begin training Thor as heir to the throne. I began trying my best to take over the throne, and I had tried to do so for centuries. I failed time and time again and after a while Odin became weary of my antics.” Loki began and Syndra tilted her head to the side and furrowed her brows, “What did he do to you?” she asked and he sighed.

“He sealed me within a tree.” Loki stated blatantly and Syndra blinked in confusion as she tried to understand why Odin would have done that. “However, he told me that if I wanted to be free, someone had to shed a tear for me, other than my mother of course. He specified that.” Loki said and Syndra saw the mischievous glimmer flash through his eyes. It seemed that Loki truly enjoyed outsmarting Odin, which she knew he was about to tell her how he had done so.

“Heimdall was always watching me, as the all-seeing guardian of the bifrost. I made a leaf strike him in the eye, and thus he shed a tear for me and then I was freed.” He said and she watched him for a moment. He was blatantly bragging to her as to how no matter what situation he was in there was always a way out for him. It was as if he knew he was more intelligent than anyone she had ever met and was trying to enforce that idea to her. Somehow the jolt in her chest had registered as mistrust in her mind, but she shoved those thoughts away and forced a smile. He had been the reason for her quality of life in this place to be slowly getting better, she couldn’t just suddenly not trust him. It didn’t matter if he were the God of mischief and lies, she was going to trust him for as long as she could, provided he never gave her a reason not to.

:-:-:-:

She woke up the next morning to see him sitting over by the wall, his demeanor nonchalant, but she knew he had been there for a minute. “Good morning.” He greeted and she smiled at him softly. “You enjoy talking, don’t you?” she asked and he offered a small smirk. “At least I have the walk to go with all the talk I do.” He said and she shook her head. He however, had very slightly enjoyed seeing her random little looks of fear or awe… he didn’t know which one he liked more. “Tell me of your travels then, since you seem to want to expend so much air.” She laughed softly and he rolled his eyes.

“Of course,” he said and she offered a smile. “Alright, I will tell you of my adventures with Thor.” He said and swung his legs around to get comfortable. He started out telling her about the time where they had gotten into a fight with the frost giants, and this really caught her attentions. She wasn’t sure whether or not she should have been as interested as she was but she guessed it was only natural she would be so interested in what exactly had happened that day. “So we were there in the presence of Laufey and his Frost Giants… we thought we had everything settled and we were going to go home, but before we could leave, one of them told Thor to run home little princess.” Loki chuckled and shook his head at this. “Needless to say-” he began but was cut off. “Brother, I thought we agreed that our battles would be recanted in great glorious detail.” Thor’s voice boomed and Syndra grinned and jumped up to run to the main wall where he stood.

Thor smiled at Syndra but then glanced over at Loki who had swept back over to his couch to hide himself behind a book. “Syndra, forgive me for interrupting your glorious conversations. I will take my leave once I have come to say what ive been informed to announce, because my brother doesn’t seem to want to see me or even hear the sound of my voice.” Thor sighed and she frowned at him. “It’s ok Thor, don’t worry about it.” She said with a smile and Loki turned to watch how she interacted with Thor, he was admittedly jealous of how open she was with Thor, having only spoken with him in nonverbal forms; but with him, she seemed held back. He wanted her to be that open with him as well, they were supposed to be friends after all.

“I came to see how you were fairing, and obviously you are well.” Thor said to her and she nodded. She spoke so kindly to him, and he knew she spoke so kindly to himself as well; but he was suffering from the slightest bit of jealousy towards Thor once again. He sighed and glared down at his book, thinking that Thor had come to pull her away from him, as he always said he never tried to do. Never the same person, but always the same manner of stealing them away… this was probably why Loki had no real friends, but then again he could always find a reason to blame Thor when he knew it was never Thor’s fault. He had no friends because… well… trying to rule every world you’ve ever been to and playing tricks on everyone usually puts people off.

“Loki, I have actually come to tell you something important.” Thor said and Loki glanced up from his book to look over at him. “And what would that be?” Loki asked and Thor frowned. “You have a visitor.” Thor said as he turned to Syndra who frowned. “You don’t have to go Thor, you can sit and speak with me if you wish.” She said and Thor nodded, offering a small smile to her. “Of course.” He said then looked to Loki. “I will gather your visitor.” He said and left the area, only to return moments later with a beautiful Asgardian woman in his midst.

Syndra stared in awe at how beautiful the woman was. Long ebony hair fell in shining curls over her shoulders, long lashes swept over glowing sky blue eyes, and plump red lips stuck out in a lovely contrast to her pale porcelain skin. “Sigyn…” Loki greeted and the woman placed her hand to the barrier with watery eyes. “Oh my king… what have they done to you…” she whispered and Loki frowned. “They have done nothing to me, I have done this to myself.” He said, but didn’t move from his place on his couch with his book in hand. “I missed you, my king.” Sigyn said and Loki nodded. “I was wondering when you would return. I had almost thought you had forgotten about me, seeing as you’ve been off running about with Sif and the warriors three. However… it was mainly with one particular member of the warriors three, now wasn’t it?” Loki asked, flipping a page in his book, not even giving her a second glance.

“My king… I would never do such a thing as to betray you!” she said and he nodded. “Then what were you doing with the robin hood look alike?” Loki asked and Thor blinked, but then grinned. “I understood that! It’s from midgard.” He chuckled, but an angry tear filled gaze found itself on him and he had to cough and turn back to Syndra, who watched the woman with curious eyes. “I was trying to figure out where you were and how to free you, my king… but I’m afraid that nothing I have come up with would work… “ She said and Loki nodded. “That’s fine, my queen… I was just curious; no ill insinuations were particularly implied.” Loki said, and Sigyn sat in front of Loki’s barrier. He continued to speak with her for a couple more hours, as Thor spoke with Sandra.

Once Sigyn left, loci returned to his place near Syndra’s wall. Thor left not long after and she approached the wall and sat before him. “So, you’re married…” she whispered and he nodded. “You never mentioned that you were married, but I should have guessed, seeing as how you had given me an odd look when I told you that if I ever get out of here I would want to get married and live a normal life…” she sighed, and he looked up at her. “I also should have guessed it seeing as how you were asking about what it feels like to love someone.” She said and bewitched her carefully.

“Would you like to understand how I ended up in this mess?” he asked and she nodded. “It depends, is this a genuine explanation, or another lie? Thor told me to be weary of what you say, but don’t wish to have to… walk on eggshells as Thor said.” She said and he nodded. “ I understand why he says this. You know of why I am in here, correct?” he asked and she nodded. “You led the chitauri to war with earth.” She said and he nodded. “I also threatened his girlfriend.” Loki said offhandedly and Syndra frowned at him. “but do you know what I had said when Thor was destroying the bifrost?” he asked and the words rang through her mind, those small words meant so much… and she knew Loki had meant them.

“Thor had wanted so badly to protect Jane Foster… so much so that he would destroy his one way to return to her, just to make sure that I wouldn’t be able to go back either. In that moment I thought of him and only him… I thought of his happiness… seeing as though I was forever bound to Sigyn… even though I was always angry at him, always jealous… I didn’t want him to end up like me.” Loki said and she watched him with saddened eyes. “I tricked her into marrying me.” Loki said as he adjusted himself to face her better.

“I killed her fiancée, and impersonated him until their wedding day came around. After she said her vows and my father had declared us wed… I revealed myself. Father was furious, and I could tell she wished to cry, but she quickly resigned herself and she told my father she would be my queen for all eternity. I tricked her into the betrothal because I had admired her from afar for so long… I thought she was just so lovely… but after we ended up married… I realized that I was stuck with her and that I did not… love her… I enjoyed the thought of her but not her. Don’t get me wrong, she’s loyal, she’s beautiful, and she is a wonderful woman who would do anything to help me… and as much as I enjoy having her around… I want her to be happy and I can see she isn’t happy with me.” He sighed and Syndra smiled at him.

“She worries about you. I think she is happy enough with you… I just think you should try to speak with her and figure out what she does and doesn’t like…” Syndra said and Loki released a snort. “Last I heard she wanted a throne. But I can’t be too sure if that is the truth or not, I don’t believe I heard it from a reliable source, either way.” He said and Syndra frowned. “I did get the princess vibe from her, but I don’t think she wants a throne.” Syndra said and he sighed. “But whatever you do, just do what you think is best for her.” Syndra said as she made her way to her bed as the lights began flickering out.

“Do what I think is right, huh?” Loki sighed and he made his way over to his bed. “Alright then I think I know just what to do.”

:-:-:-:

He continued to tell her stories of his travels and had even tried to teach her more illusory spells, however she didn’t seem to be picking up on them so well. He couldn’t quite figure out why she wasn’t learning it, but eventually he gave up, and she understood why, but she kept trying to make the spells work. In the meantime, while she would practice, he would continue to tell her of all his pranks, misdeeds, and endeavors. He would congratulate her when she had mastered a spell, but none of them were illusory spells she had mastered.

It was strange. The only illusory spell she could do, was to change her appearance. Nothing else. Just the way she looked, and how tall she was. But that was fine, she was learning as she continued to practice day after day. Month after month, they talked and she tried her best time and time again. They’d spoken for about a ten months now and he didn’t think he would have made it mentally without her. He sighed as he sat by the wall as his mother’s image appeared before him. He caught a glimpse of Syndra as he stood to greet his mother. He waved his hand to create an illusion so she wouldn’t see or butt in on their conversation. He had a feeling that this one was different from the others they’d had before.

“I don’t suppose you’ve heard, have you?” she asked and he offered her an odd look. “No, I haven’t.” he replied and she sighed. “The aether has showed itself, but it has come to us in form of Thor’s Midgardian woman, Jane Foster. It is slowly killing her.” Frigga said and he frowned. “The Aether?” he asked and he saw Syndra’s eyes go wide. “The red artifact?” he asked and Frigga nodded. Loki’s eyes cut to Syndra and he furrowed his brows. “I see…” he murmured and his mother nodded.

“We think something might be coming for it but we don’t quite know what.” She began and Syndra began listening carefully after that. After a while of him and his mother talking, she vanished from sight and he was angry. She frowned at him and sat in front of the wall between them. She placed her hands against the barrier, which he returned with a saddened look. “You shouldn’t have been so harsh to her, she loves you.” Syndra said and his eyes went wide. “How did you?  I… used an illusion.” He said and she pulled her hands away from the wall slowly.

“An illusion?” she asked and he frowned. “I didn’t see an illusion.” She said and this only made him frown more. “Nevermind that… how do you know of the Aether?” he asked and she frowned. “I only knew of it because I was given the coordinates and told to never let anyone know where it was, but it came here.” She said and her eyes went wide. “Oh no… Oh No…” she whispered and tears filled her eyes.

“What’s wrong?” he asked and she pulled her blanket around her and her hair darkened to black and her skin became tanned. “Why are you doing that?” he asked and she stared at him with teary eyes. “They will come, they will find me… I can’t let them find me, Loki.” She whispered and he frowned, placing his hands on the wall separating them. She slowly reached up her hands and placed them over his. He felt her warmth resonate through the wall and she slowly began to calm down.

“Don’t worry Syndra.” He began and she looked up at him. “I promise I will keep you safe.” He said and she looked at him with trembling lips. “I promise, that I will let no harm come to you, because you are my… friend. and you are the only one I have. So I’d rather you not die on me.” He said and she laughed lightly. “I’m five foot one and a trembling ball of fear… and you’d rather have me alive than in their clutches?” she asked with a small smile.

“Of course… I only have one midget, and you’re my midget.” He said and she laughed lightly. “Of course.” She whispered as her appearance returned to normal. However, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to protect her like he’d promised. But that was only because he was in this cell, just like her. However, he would find a way out and he would find a way to protect her, even if it was the last promise he made to her. He finally had a friend, and he was unwilling to let anything happen to her; because if he could protect her… what kind of friend was he?

 


	4. Don't Fret Dear

Don’t fret dear chapter 4

It had started out like any other morning actually… inmates were noisy, the two groups throwing threats at the other, saying they were going to kill each other. The guards were escorting more inmates in, although there was a large terrifying one in a mask, although Syndra hadn’t seen him coming in the slightest… her eyes were locked with the illustrious blue of Loki’s and she couldn’t contain the excited flutter in her chest. He had called her his friend, his one and only friend. although midget had been tossed around there a few times, but that was ok with her.

However, Loki’s eyes would stray from her to glance at the newcomers ever so slightly. She knew he was taking in their level of threat accordingly. He had stood and had begun to watch as each of the men in cuffs passed by him. She stood and turned to her wall to begin working on her second painting, she understood that he needed to observe everything and everyone that came in or happened. It was just who he was, being such an intellectual mind, he needed to know. That’s why he had asked her the questions and that was why he was always reading.

He was a brilliant mind with seemingly no purpose other than to prove to his father that he was good enough. She understood his need, although her need was different from his it was still the need to prove someone wrong. She wanted Odin to see her as an ally of Asgard, rather than the filth that had snuck in from Jotunheim. She glanced over at Loki and smiled softly, he was walking in circles with a book in hand; or better yet, his illusion was. She had found out that she could see through his illusions the other day when he had argued with his mother. He had come to the conclusion that she hadn’t been able to learn the spells from his was because she could barely even see them.

It was plausible reasoning, seeing as she could see through them she would have to adjust her eyes to allow them to be seen; rather than just looking right through them. He, however, was not even holding a book, he was standing at the very front of his cell, staring at the newcomers, still assessing the danger level. She turned back to her painting and used careful strokes to define the cheekbones, then soft pink to accentuate the curve of the lips that were pursed in a thoughtful manner. She then grabbed the small brush, and began filling in the eyes with a soft blue, darkening around the edges of the eyes to define them better. She then grabbed a larger brush and dipped it in her black paint, she then began paint long hair that fell over the shoulders of the man in the painting.

A snort was heard from behind her and Syndra turned to face the person that was staring into her cell. “You think you have a chance, don’t you?” her voice came out softly, but Syndra heard her loud and clear. She was only an illusion, but she was a powerful enough one that Syndra didn’t have to adjust her eyes all that much to really see. Her illusions weren’t as powerful as Frigga’s, they weren’t even close, because Syndra had still needed to adjust her eyes a bit. “Lady Sigyn.” She greeted softly and Sigyn frowned at her. “I must admit you captured his imagery perfectly.” Sigyn said with a small smile. “You don’t love him, do you?” Sigyn asked, and Syndra shook her head.

“No milady, I do not. He is a favored friend though, seeing as I have no others.” Syndra said and Sigyn smiled at her softly. “I see that…” she whispered as she brushed Syndra’s hair behind her ear. “I very much love that man, so please… I don’t want to lose him. I would much rather not have to let go of my husband.” She whispered and Syndra could see the fear and sadness in Sigyn’s blue eyes. Syndra smiled at her brightly, which caused Sigyn to be taken aback. “I would never have a chance with him, I’m nowhere near what he classifies as beautiful. You are what he classifies as beautiful, and you shouldn’t have to worry about anything else but the fact that you are what he thinks of when he thinks of the word beautiful.” Syndra said ato kill yound Sigyn frowned, but then nodded and offered a smile.

“I wasn’t worried about my looks; I was worried about the intellectual mind you hold.” She said before she vanished from sight. Syndra blinked and furrowed her eyes, but then sighed and turned back to her painting of Loki. When she turned to look over at Loki he was standing there with his brow raised in an amused manner. “Hmm… my hair has never looked that well-groomed, it has always had some sort of curl at the ends.” He muttered, but then smirked. “Everything else could use a little work, I mean… no imagery could ever quite portray me exactly, but I would have to admit that this is fairly close.” He said and she laughed, softly.

But it seemed that the moment wasn’t meant to be so light hearted. The inmates began screaming, however, this wasn’t in anger… these screams were screams of fear. He glanced over at Syndra and her whole form was frozen with fear as the larger man used another inmate to burst through his cell wall. Syndra stared at the beast as it strolled towards her cell. Her heart began to race, her limbs began to tremble with her fear, and her fear was caught in her throat. It touched her barrier, then reared back to smash the barrier. After the first hit she'd cowered against the back wall in fear. "Princess" it muttered and she screamed as it continued to try to break into her cell.

"Leave her alone!" Loki snarled and the creature stepped away from her cell. Loki didn't look angry or defensive of the sort, but he didn't look intimidating. The creature then stepped away from her cell and made his way over to Loki’s cell and turned to look him in the face. It began saying something to him in a language he didn’t understand, but Syndra crawled over to the front of her cell and began stammering something in the same language the creature had just spoken in. Her voice sounded terrified, whatever she had been saying.

The creature jerked its head towards Loki and spat on the floor, shaking his head towards Loki. Syndra screamed something at him in the language and Loki could feel the emotion in her voice, it was such a mix or terror, worry, and anger that it had caught him off guard. The creature sneered and reared his fist back to slam it into Loki’s wall, but Syndra stood up straight and screamed half of her sentence in one language, but the last half in English. The creature backed away from him and walked over to Syndra.

She looked up at him and he bowed respectfully. He then stood from his one knee and walked past Loki, muttering something that sounded oddly like a threat when he stopped to stand in front of him once more. “I would recommend taking the stairs to the left.” Loki said, his voice showing nothing that the creature could make out to be something else. Loki then turned and crouched beside her wall, placing a hand on the wall, which she placed hers there as well.

I'm ok... I promise..." She whispered and he nodded. “I was just making sure… I’m sorry it had taken me so long to figure out what to do…” he said but she stared at him with trembling eyes. “He was going to kill you…” she stammered and he frowned. “I figured he was going to try.” Loki said then placed his hands on the wall between them. “Now… I need you to listen…” he said, seeing as even though she was still freaking out even though she said she was fine. She placed her hands over his and he nodded. “Now close your eyes and just listen, alright?” he said and she nodded once more.

Thor arrived not long after and began trying to get the prisoners back in their cells, but they refused and Thor had to use excessive force. Loki had managed to keep her attentions, and her mind clear. “Now, keep listening to the sound of my voice alright? Now I understand you are scared, but just take a deep breath. And don’t fret dear, even when your heart begins to race, don’t fret… don’t panic… just remember what I’m saying here.” He said and her lips continued to tremble. “Do not fret. You are safe right here, right beside me.” He said and her sniffled began to slow. “Now do me a favor and push all thoughts of that creature out of your mind.” He said and she took a deep breath.

“Now tell me who you are, tell me who I am, and show me something I have taught you.” Loki said and she slowly opened her eyes. “I am Syndra of Svartalfheim and Jotunheim, you are Loki of Asgard and Jotunheim….” She whispered and he nodded. “Good, now show me…” he began but Thor walked into her cell and crouched beside her. “Thor.” Loki greeted. “Loki.” Thor greeted back, in the same tone of irritation. "You're alright now..." He said and her eyes trembled just the same as her fingers and her lips.

She began saying something in that different language and Thor shook his head. “They aren't here for you... They're here for the Aether..." He said and she sat on her feet, placing her hands together and she began praying. Loki could barely understand what she was saying, but Thor knew exactly what she was saying. Thor was patting her on the head, but the tears just kept coming. Loki frowned and placed his hand against the wall between them. She just continued to pray and this made him hurt. He understood her fear, or maybe he didn’t… but he wanted to.

“Loki, watch her until I return.” Thor said and Loki nodded. “Trust me brother, you will have no worries when it comes to me taking care of her.” Loki bit out, but then knocked on the barrier once more. Thor watched Loki in confusion, but once he had begun to speak to Syndra, Thor knew she was in good hands. “Don’t fret dear, you’re supposed to remember my words. Think of my voice. And do as I say. Who are you, who am I, where are we, and show me something I’ve taught you.” Loki said and Thor listened carefully as Syndra whispered all the answers to his questions, and then it had begun to snow in the room. The snow swirled around her hands and a gentle blue rose of ice was formed in her grasp.

“Very good, dear. Now come sit here and speak with me.” He said and she crawled over to him. Loki glanced over to Thor, who offered an approving look then ran to try and destroy the thing that had come through here. “So, you are the daughter of this… Melekith?” he asked, opting for the polite description of the elven man. “That monster is in no way my father. He may be the father of my mother, but he is in no way related to me!" She hissed and he offered a sympathetic smile. "Forgive me love I didn't mean to offend." He said and she jerked her head up at him. "I'm sorry...I.... I'm just panicking right now.” She whispered and he nodded. "Come then, sit and show me what you've learned." He said and she began showing him the illusory spells he'd taught her.

It had been hours before anyone had come down to them, and by that time, Syndra had fallen asleep against the barrier between them. Loki had his back to the barrier and was flipping through his book. He had been reading for hours now, and was actually pleasantly surprised to see Syndra sleeping so well behind him. He glanced back before him to see the image of his wife sitting there. “Is she well?” sigyn asked and he shook his head. “Not so much… she’s terrified.” Loki said and Sigyn frowned.

“And you aren’t? Thor said that creature was going to kill you.” Sigyn said, but Loki just shrugged. “I diverted his attention from her long enough for her to gather her wits once more. She said something that made him leave the both of us alone.” He said and Sigyn nodded. “Thor said she screamed for him to leave you alone the first time, but Thor says that the creature said you were a disrespectful worm that should die. Thor then told me that she continued to scream at him that you were her friend and that he should leave you alone.” Sigyn said with a frown, but then she offered a small smile.

“Thor explained to me that what had gotten him to go away was that she had told him she would kill him if he didn’t back off, but then Thor also said that she had to scream something else at the creature. I am quite interested in what exactly she could have said to get him to leave you alone…” Sigyn said and Loki quirked a brow. “What I want to know is how Thor knows her language.” Loki said and he heard Syndra moving behind him. “Don’t worry, she can’t see me.” Sigyn said and Loki chuckled. “I told him that Loki would protect me better than he could, so be had better not touch him.” Syndra said and Loki stared at her wide eyed.

“He said that you better take care of me or he’ll kill you the next time he sees you, Loki.” Syndra said with a yawn as she turned around to look Sigyn’s illusion in the eyes. The woman seemed surprised, she hadn’t thought Syndra could see through her illusions. Loki chuckled at the look on his wife’s face. “I had a similar look, I’d suppose. It is strange how she can see through our illusions, isn’t it?” Loki asked and Sigyn stared at him in surprise.

“It’s her eyes. They were trained to see heat signatures, and once her irises broke, she can no longer see heat signatures very well, but her eyes can still pick out what is real and what is unreal.” Loki explained and Sigyn nodded. “That is interesting indeed.” She whispered, but then stood. “Well I have to go, I have things to attend to on the outside. Not in Asgard.” She said and vanished. Loki sighed and rubbed his eyes before he looked at her. “I swear that woman wants to kill me sometimes.” He sighed and Syndra tilted her head at him.

“Funny I feel the same about her. I think she wants me dead over a painting.” Syndra said and pointed at the one on the wall of Loki. “Uh huh? So I’m not the only one who gets that feeling? Good to know, I think.” He sighed and Syndra smiled at him softly. “She thinks my intellectual mind will woo you.” Syndra said in an amused tone as she began making up her bed. Loki just watched her in silence, which made her cheeks heat up slightly. Perhaps his silence meant that what Sigyn thought was true. Syndra shook her head and rolled her eyes. He was married and the thought of destroying his marriage because she thought he was nice and attractive to boot, was extremely selfish and disgusting.

“The woman is smart but her intelligence is put into question at times. She tries to help but usually making things worse. I wouldn’t be surprised if one day she tried to cast a sedation spell on someone and ended up disintegrating them.” He sighed with a shake of the head. “That’s a terrifying thought.” Syndra said and he nodded. “You have no idea.” He sighed and she released a small laugh, but then her eyes went wide and she turned to him swiftly.

“Oh, no!” she squealed and he jumped up and looked at her, worry evident in his eyes. “What? What is it?” he asked in a panicky tone and she stared at him in fear. “What if she tries to sedate me and disintegrates me!?” she squealed and he released a laugh. “I don’t think it would be an accident if she disintegrated you.” He chuckled and her eyes widened and she buried her face in her hands. “I suppose it wouldn’t be an accident then… I think she would just say it was… I swear that woman is jealous over nothing, isn’t she?” Syndra asked and Loki stared at her for a moment.

“You ask in a tone that states you think she doesn’t have anything to be jealous of, but at the same time your tone states that you have an idea that you might get something out of me on whether or not she does have something to be jealous over.” Loki said with an amused glance and Syndra shook her head. “Not at all.” She said but he laughed and shook his head. “Just get some sleep woman. We’ve had a rough day.” He sighed and she nodded as she slipped into her bed.

They went to sleep and had woke the next morning to absolute silence. She had watched Loki carefully, seeing as she could tell something was upsetting him. The aura in the atmosphere was enough to make a grown woman want to break down and cry. The air was so thick with sadness it hurt her. He was pacing back and forth, his eyes glazed over in thought. This feeling lingered for days and she couldn’t tell if were coming solely off of Loki, or from someone else.

Three days had passed before guards had returned to the dungeon, but they didn’t return with food or anything of the sort. They came with news that made chills run down Syndra’s entire body. She saw what they didn’t see… she heard what they didn’t hear, and she felt the agony of the words they would most likely never feel in the same way as he did. She had tried so hard to contain her tears but she was unable to contain them. It wasn’t completely because of what they had said, although those words had pained her so deeply… it was the way he had reacted to those words… his reaction killed her inside and she just wanted to comfort him… tell him it was going to be ok, but she didn’t know how… not after these words.

“Lady Frigga was lost…”

Before those words, her pain had always been classified as a nine. After those words and after watching his reaction to those words… she classified this pain as the one and only ten she would hope to ever have to classify pain as…


	5. Goodbye for Now

Goodbye for now

The guards had come in and she knew they had brought terrible news. She had rushed over to the wall once they had said those words. She watched as his illusion spoke with them calmly, but she focused her eyes and watched as he dropped to his knees and screamed at the top of his lungs. Chills fell over her limbs and she slammed her fist onto the barrier softly as the tears rolled over her cheeks. His illusion had actually walked over and sat down on his couch and started to read, but Loki himself was destroying everything in the room. Tears were rolling over his cheeks and those agonized screamed were breaking her heart.

He threw his couch and then his books he threw everything in his room until he managed to wear himself out and then he just collapsed against the back wall and had begun to cry into his palms silently. His books were all in shreds all over the floor, the stuffing of his couch was popping out, and his chairs were now missing legs. She stood to look around his floor at his enraged destruction, and found a single image. It was of Frigga. She manipulated the air and made icy cold wind blow the picture over to Loki, who peered up and very gently grasped the image and held it to his chest as he began crying once more.

She turned and wrapped her blanket around her in an effort to comfort herself. She then began painting on her wall. The soft yellow paint splashed onto her wall and then she had rapidly begun twirling the brush through the splattered paint to make curls. She then began to work on those friendly green eyes she had seen so many times, then she started on the usual flowing white dress. Streaks of silver emphasized shadows on her dress, while she grabbed her peach colored paint and began adding color to the face, neck, and hands.

She reached for her water bottle once more, and realized that she had four bottles sitting empty on her floor. She turned and saw that the lights were out and had most likely been out for hours. But the fact she had actually gone to retrieve bottle after bottle from the edge of her cell had actually meant she had been painting for about four days now, nonstop. She sighed and walked over to the barrier between them. He was sitting over there and his hair was beginning to look unkempt.

She placed her hands against the wall noisily, hoping that he would at least look up at her, but all he did was run his thumbs over his mother’s image. Her eyes softened and she made her way back over to her painting. She tapped her fingers to it to see if any of it had dried, and seeing that parts of her dress actually had, she began painting once more. She proceeded to paint darker shadows and added detail to her hands and face.

She then proceeded to outline her smile and add more detail and color to her lips, eyes and face. “I want you to see that she wouldn’t want you to cry, Loki.” Syndra whispered as she gathered more paint on her brush. She turned to grab more paint and realized she was now almost out, but then again she was almost finished. She added the final details and stepped back to look at her work. She had left the image of Loki how it had been, but she had painted Frigga onto it and now Frigga’s hand was cupping Loki’s face and there was a smile on her lips. Even in art form Syndra had managed to capture the loving look in Frigga’s eyes when she looked at Loki.

Syndra smiled softly, but wiped her face because her tears had started falling once more. Her soft sobs had begun to strengthen and she hit her knees by the barrier between her and Loki. She had successfully distracted herself from her pain for an entire week, but once she had reminded herself of why she had painted the image her heart broke once more. She sat there and watched as he had begun to fall apart more and more each day.

 Her hands would stay pressed against the wall, waiting for the warmth of his hands to resonate through the barrier, but it never would. He hadn’t moved from his place for days, and she didn’t think he would move any time soon. But she stayed there, when she wasn’t adding more paint to the painting she had done for him. But she would always return and sit right there, day after day. She would pray and plead for him to come to the wall and say something to her… just one word.

She would whisper to him, telling him she knew he was hurting... this was how she hoped to get him to come to her, but it never seemed to work. “I’m here Loki… I’m here for you, I promise…” she would whisper, hoping that maybe he could at least look at her. His illusion would come and sit before her, which meant he knew she was there. But this didn’t mean he was becoming what he once was, this just meant he was still hiding.

“I can see you over there, your illusions don’t work on me… I have seen your pain, dear… please… please just come speak to me… don’t send your illusions…” she whispered and watched him carefully. He didn’t move, but his illusion did; and his illusion placed his hands over hers, but the warmth wasn’t there. It wasn’t the same. It just wasn’t. she watched him as he continued to sit over there and hide behind his illusions. It worked for everyone else, but not for her.

This was breaking her heart. She wanted him to know he didn’t have to do this… she wanted him to know that he didn’t have to suffer alone. She wanted him to know she was here for him and only him. She just sat there, telling him he didn't have to suffer alone and that she was here for him, and she would always be there for him. She couldn’t contain her tears any longer so she just broke down and cried again… two and a half weeks, she had sat here, begging him to speak to her. Not a move was made on his part.

She pressed her hands against the wall and watched him as he sat over there, his tears had begun to dry up, but he wouldn’t speak. He wouldn’t even move. So she just sat there, and she waited. She watched as new prisoners had been brought in, and old had been taken out. Her room had been opened and they had put a man and a woman in there with her. Apparently Frigga had been the only reason her cell had only had one person.

“Hey, you, elf.” The man called out to her and she turned to look at him. “What are you in for?” he asked and she frowned at him, her eyes narrowed as the woman came closer and closer to touching her painting. “If you touch that, you will regret it.” Syndra bit out, and the woman snorted at her. “Oh, we have a stubborn wench in here don’t we? Well wench, your daddy and his creature killed lady Frigga and now I’m in here with you because lady Frigga was the only thing keeping me free.” The woman sneered and balled her fist. She then smeared the paint down the wall, rubbing a weeks worth of detail off of the image of Frigga.

“How disrespectful.” Syndra sneered and the room began to get cold. “She died and your ruined her image.” Syndra snapped, her tears falling once more. “I worked so hard on that for her… for lady Frigga… she loved my art and you ruined it.” She hissed and the woman rolled her eyes. “Oh, please… you dark elves have no morals… you have no feelings… you’re nothing more than beasts.” The woman said as she watched Syndra scramble to gather her paint to try and fix what the woman had done.

“Guards, why are there others in her cell? You had direct orders for no others to be in her cell!” Thor yelled as he ran down to open Syndra’s cell. He yanked the man out of the cell, but the woman persisted to bother Syndra. “Get out of there, now!” Thor demanded, but the woman snatched Syndra’s brush and snapped it in two. At the sound of the crack, soft blue eyes darkened and the air chilled. Syndra’s hand raised and Thor jumped in front of the woman, which made Syndra’s eyes lighten back to blue and the room began to warm back up. Her tears continued to streak back over her cheeks, and Thor frowned. He set down a new box of paint and brushes, then shoved the other woman into a different cell with other asgardians.

“Syndra… are you alright now?” his voice called to her and she jolted to look over at the barrier. Loki sat there, his hands pressed against the wall. “Y-yes I am fine…” she whispered as she made her way over to him. “I’m not.” He said and she nodded. “I know you aren’t, dear.” She whispered and he looked her in the eyes. He wasn’t used to her using his lines. But she was trying to comfort him. He offered a small smile, although she could tell it was forced.

“Now look at what you’ve done…” she sighed and he looked at her strangely. “Your hair looks like the south end of an Asgardian war horse that hasn’t seen a brush in ages.” She sighed and he released a chuckle as he looked at himself in the reflection of the barrier. “I suppose I do look like hell then, don’t I?” he asked and she smiled softly at him as she wiped her eyes. “Even worse.” She said and he cocked his head to the side in confusion. “You look like Jotunheim.” She said and he blinked in surprise, but then chuckled lowly.

“After what I did to it I am not even the slightest bit surprised that you would use it against me like that.” He said, but then she cracked a small smile at him. “But you know I mean it in joking manner.” She said and he nodded. “Oh I know dear… I know. How about that painting over there… what happened to it, you get angry?” he asked and she looked over at it. Her eyes went wide as she realized that ice had crawled up the wall. “There was an Asgardian woman who smeared it… I suppose I did get angry.” She said and he nodded.

“Well I suppose that you can handle yourself if angry enough… possibly scared enough.” He sighed and she looked over at him. “What?” he asked as her eyes filled with tears. “I’m not saying you’re evil or even scared like a child…” he began but her eyes began to water more. “Shit…” he cursed under his breath and he looked at her and sighed. “What I meant was you could be a terrifying ice midget.” He said and she laughed as her tears continued to fall. “Thank you for believing in me.” She said as she rubbed at her profusely leaking eyes.

He sighed and rubbed his eyes with his thumb and pointer fingers. “You’re such a troublesome woman.” He sighed and she laughed as she pressed her hands against the barrier. “Why did you come over here today?” she asked and he quirked a brow. “You have got to be kidding right? Why do you think Thor came down here?” he asked and she blinked. “You chilled the air… we could all feel it, I have no doubt Odin felt it too. But knowing what got you so riled up is comforting. That must have been such a lovely painting. The resemblance to her was uncanny.” He said and she frowned.

“I had worked so hard for her to just wipe it all away.” She said and he nodded. “Well you may want to hurry up and fix it. They’ll never put another prisoner in this cell once you are gone from it… because Odin would most likely come down here and sit in front of that image and mourn.” Loki said and Syndra frowned. “I don’t want him to mourn… I didn’t want you to mourn either. I just wanted you to see it and be happy… I wanted you to smile…” she whispered and he did just that… he offered her a genuine smile… “Then fix it…” he said and she nodded, but this time she was going to change his pursed lips to a small smile. She wanted Odin to see what she would see… she wanted him to see that even Loki could be passionate about something and not wish evil upon it.

When she finished Loki had been sitting there for three days, talking to her and admiring her painting aesthetic. “Marvelous, you perfectly captured me this time.” He said with a smirk and Syndra rolled her eyes. “Good to know that you think this whole thing is about you.” She said and he gave her an amused look as he crossed his legs. “But everything is about me… that’s how it always has been.” He said and she smiled at him. “I suppose… not.” She said and he placed his hand on his chest. “That’s offensive.” He said and she looked at him over her shoulder.

“How so…?” she asked and he grinned. “I’m always the center of attention.” He said and she pursed her lips. “I don’t know… Thor seems to be quite the attention grabber, if you haven’t noticed.” She said and he gave her a sour look. “Thank you… for pointing out the obvious.” He grumbled and she quirked her brow. She understood that he had always had trouble comparing to Thor, but she also understood that despite the fact they were adopted brothers and had been forced to try and compete for the throne, they were nothing alike and their strengths were different. “Listen Loki…” she began and he looked at her, the still sour glimmer in his eyes.

“look… you’ve been on Midgard, right?” she asked and he nodded. “Ok, so you understand that when I say flowers are pretty, but water is pretty as well, then you understand that both are pretty, despite being something completely different.” She said and his sour look started to fade, but an interested one arose. “What I am trying to say is… Thor might be the icon of strength in Asgard, but you are strong, and you are smart. You are a brilliant strategist and sorcerer… some people don’t see this because they look for physical strength more than intellectual or sorcery based strength…” she said and he quirked a brow.

“If I didn’t know any better I would think you were appealing to my intellectual side.” He said and she rolled her eyes. “I’m trying to get you to understand that despite your differences, you are both strong and are both great warriors in your own way… you don’t need your f…. Odin’s approval to tell you otherwise.” She said and he gave her a look that saddened her. His eyes were just so saddened, that it made her regret even saying Odin’s name. “He will never hold me in the same light he holds Thor… and I suppose I will just have to come to terms with that.” Loki sighed and she offered a sympathetic smile, which made him stare at her for a moment and shake his head.

“Would you ever like to see Midgard in person?” he asked and her eyes lit up and she nodded. “I think it would be amazing to live in a place with such advanced technology. I would imagine it would be a beautiful place.” She said and he shook his head. “it isn’t what one would think it would be… but it does have its perks. I promise that you will love it if you ever get the chance to go.” He said and she smiled, but then the lights dimmed and she furrowed her brows. “it isn’t time to cut them off yet…” she whispered and he motioned for her to crouch and move towards the wall he was crouched by. He brought up an illusion and hid himself from whoever was coming in.

They watched the door to see Thor coming down the steps swiftly. “Loki, drop the act. I need to speak with you.” Thor said as he approached his cell. “What is it, brother?” Loki asked and Thor frowned at him. “I need your help.” Thor said and Loki quirked a brow. “You must be very desperate to come to me.” He said and Thor glared at him for a moment then looked over to Syndra. “I am… seeing as the only other person I could ask for help can’t control her abilities.” Thor snapped and Syndra stared at him wide eyed. Tears formed in her eyes and she sat in front of the wall with her head down.

Loki watched her for a minute but then conversed with his brother for a while more. “What exactly is it that you need?” Loki asked and Thor proceeded to explain his plan to him, but Loki seemed distracted by Syndra and how upset she was. Thor hadn’t seemed to notice at first, but when he did he didn’t quite understand why Syndra had caught his brother’s attention so easily. Thor cleared his throat, expecting Loki to look back at him, but his eyes were sill focused on the white haired woman.

"Are you even listening brother?" Thor asked and he nodded. "Yes... Quite..." He said and Thor furrowed his brows. "I want her freed." Loki said and Thor looked over at her, a small frown tugged at his lips. "We can't free her yet..." Thor said and Loki turned to her. She offered a small smile to which he gave her a frown. "I will free you if it’s the last thing I do." He whispered to her, softly enough to where Thor didn't quite hear him but she did. She placed her hands against the wall and nodded. "Avenge your mother..." She said and he nodded.

His last words to her had been, “Trust my rage.” And she did, she had watched him rage every single day since his mother’s death… so if anything… she trusted in that rage. She also trusted in the fact that he was going to hide his pain from Thor. Even though that was none of her business, she still worried about him. She couldn’t do anything but worry about him.

“We are headed to Svartalfheim…” Thor had said and this had made her heart race, her blood ran cold, her chest became tight, and her mind was flooded with thoughts of this man… this brilliant man that had become her friend… she knew that going to Svartalfheim wasn’t going to bode well for the group. But she understood exactly why Thor didn’t want her to go with them… she was going to kill that woman… that hadn’t been the plan at first… but she had continued to bad mouth Frigga and Loki… and then she had defaced the image…

She had lost control of whatever power had sprung forth and she knew that it was only going to end up bad if she had gone with them. She watched as Thor opened Loki’s cell and the magnificent armor that Loki was so fond of began to form over him. Thor gave her one last look, and muttered an apology for seeming harsh, but he explained that if he had taken her with them… she would never get her freedom. She sat by the back wall of her cell and let her fear consume her, even though she knew she shouldn’t have.

It felt like forever before someone had said even a word to her.

“Where have they gone, Frost elf?” his voice rang out and a small smile crossed her lips, although her tears threw the smile off.

“To Melekith, allfather… they’ve gone to Meletkith.” She whispered and her world had gone dark after that. Perhaps Odin had become enraged with her and had finally ended her suffering… perhaps he had done so in mercy… she just hoped that it would end this dreadful feeling in her gut. She didn’t want to worry anymore… but she knew that this feeling would linger… it always did… after all… the feeling hadn’t gone away since the cursed one had shown himself. She was just going to have to prepare herself for yet another miserable day she supposed.

 

 


	6. Letting Go of You

Tiny brush, thin precise strokes. Giving life to an otherwise dull canvas. For her it wasn't hard, it was a skill all her own... this ability to create surreal life on an otherwise useless piece of parchment. Slightly larger brush, similar point. This one was to fill in the color of the lips, the eyes, and shade the skin, of course she would have to wait for the paint of the latter to dry first. She had been doing this for hours, just pondering the results of her prior actions.

She supposed she should have been punished in a much harsher manner, but at the same time she didn't quite understand her current punishment either. She wasn't going to complain about it... but she couldn't help but continue to think about it...

:-:

She had watched him go, and that had been painful to her, because not only did she get that gut feeling that said something bad was going to happen but she hadn't wanted him to leave. She sat against the back wall of her cell, pondering on this feeling, hoping it would go away. She sat and thought of this for hours in silence, until she heard it... The sound of that door opening. And then there were footsteps and the alarms were going off all over. She knew who it was long before he spoke.

"Where did they go, Frost Elf?" he asked and she frowned. "To Melekith, Allfather. They went to face him." She said and he frowned deeply at her. "Did you know of this beforehand?" he asked and she looked up at him. "No, I had no idea until Thor came here to recruit him. If it makes it any better, he was going to take me first; but I almost froze the woman who deface the portrait of Frigga I had painted." She said and Odin watched her carefully.

"I see... And he took the traitor with him?" He asked and she frowned. "Loki only wished for Frigga's death to be avenged..." She said and Odin frowned at her. "Are you sure that's all he wanted, Elf?" he asked and she frowned at him, her eyes not breaking from his for even a moment. "No... that is not all..." she said and Odin tilted his head to watch her curiously. She glanced down to her fingers and rubbed them together. She looked back up at him and gauged his potential reaction based on the look in his eyes. When she didn't see anything that meant her any physical harm, she opened her mouth to speak.

"He promised me the freedom I will never see, but it's the thought that counts, isn't it?" She said and Odin watched her in silence, his eyes disbelieving and angered. "Loki selflessly promised me that he would free me, but I know that I will never be free... This is where I've been promised to live out my days." She said but he frowned, his anger and the searing look of disbelief leaving his eyes. All anger became hidden and he sighed deeply. "No, not any longer... Come with me. We shall await his return..." Odin said and offered her a hand. She carefully took his hand and he nodded as he pulled her from her cell.

"He will come for you..." Odin said and she started up at him in confusion, she didn't quite understand what he meant. She didn't think he would come for her because he had more important things to worry about, but it seemed as though Odin was going to explain it to her... "When Loki says something, he always does it. I have Heimdal watching him now..." Odin said and she watched him for a moment. He seemed hurt, tired, and beat down.

That is what she saw behind that lone eye. All of this was finally catching up to him and she knew that this was why she wanted Thor to become king of Asgard. That way he could retire and live out the remainder of his days in peace, but she had a feeling that it wasn't going to go the way he'd planned. He led her down a hallway and into a small room with a maiden. "Find her something presentable. We can't have her looking like a slave." Odin said and Syndra stared at him for a moment, then her eyes found the window in the room.

Syndra felt her form go heavy, and she collapsed. Darkness was the last thing she saw, darkness and sympathetic eyes.

She woke about an hour later in the same room, the maiden rushing around the room and gathering things. "What happened?" she asked and the blonde maiden rushed to her side to remove the patch covering her left eye. "Well, miss... you have a condition and light is harsh on your eyes-" the woman began and Syndra nodded. "I know this, why did I faint?" she asked softly and the maiden nodded, understanding that she wasn't being rude in the slightest.

"We were not expecting the sun to have such a bad effect on you. Forgive me, I should have closed the window." She said but Syndra shook her head. "No need, it doesn't bother me in the slightest. This is something I have always had to deal with, to be honest... maybe one day I can truly walk among those of you who thrive in the light." She said and the maiden smiled. "Maybe one day." She said and helped Syndra stand.

"Thank you, miss..." Syndra started but realized the young woman hadn't said her name yet. "Kyra." She said and Syndra smiled. "It's nice to meet you, Miss Kyra." She said and the blonde smiled back at her. "Same to you, miss Syndra. Now, let's get you looking presentable shall we?" she asked and pulled the green dress off the hanger from within the closet, a pair of black leggings with intricate gold designs following suit.

Syndra removed the old worn clothes and made a move for the newer ones, but Kyra threw a towel at her and motioned for her to the wash room, which was basically in indoor hot spring. "Old asgardian secret hotsprings... Odin figured out how to recreate them and then he made them here. They have healing properties and they're great for the skin." Kyra explained from the other room and Syndra nodded.

"I see, that's why the people are so flawless here..." she whispered as she dunked her toe in. "Flawless? Hardly." Kyra laughed softly. "Half of it is magic, some of the women here use it to make themselves appear younger but it's a lie." She laughed and Syndra made an amused face but tried not to laugh, it was admittedly hard though. "Anyways, you're the prettiest outsider we've had in a long time." She said and Syndra fumbled over her words, a pink tint coming to her face.

Kyra walked into the washroom and smiled at her. "Aww, don't blush." She said as she set the clothes down for her. "Even if you were filthy, you were pretty." She said as she helped Syndra from the spring. "Almost like a battle worn Valkyrie." She said then made her way out of the room so Syndra could dress herself. When Syndra walked out Kyra beamed at her. "You look amazing. Let me help you with your armor." She said and Syndra looked at her oddly. "Armor?" she asked and Kyra nodded. "Yeah, everyone is required to wear protective armor lately. We've had so many losses that it doesn't even bother the civilians like myself anymore." She said and Syndra frowned.

"I'm sorry for what Melekith has done." Syndra whispered softly and Kyra looked up at her with a frown. "Don't apologize, princess, this wasn't your fault. You didn't wake the aether, well... neither did lady Jane, but that was why they were here. Not because of you or Jane... they just wanted the aether." She said as she adjusted the shoulder guards and connected them to the chest plate, which was a solid piece of Asgardian metal that connected around the lower back with metal clasps.

An ebony cloak unfurled from the golden armor and Syndra watched it fall with a certain childlike interest that made Kyra smile. Kyra handed her a set of armored gloves that once they were on, reached her elbows. Kyra had set out a set of ankle boots and had pulled more armor from the closet. The thigh guard was on the left side, which is the side that Syndra would have forwards in a fight, while the right side had no thigh guard. Syndra put on her shin guards and glanced at herself in the full length mirror, she looked like a true Valkyrie.

"It is comfortable, right?" Kyra asked and Syndra nodded as she moved around to get used to the feel of the armor. "That was Frigga's armor." A deep voice came to them from the doorway and Syndra jumped to look at the newcomer. Odin stood in the now open doorway with a pained look in his visible eye. Syndra bowed to him and he motioned for her to rise. "May she protect you, even in death." He said and handed her the helmet that matched the set.

"Follow me." he said as he motioned for them both to follow him. He led them to a room that was filled with sparring people. Three in particular caught her eye as the room came to a still. "Hogun, Fandral, Volstagg." He called and the three bowed their heads. Syndra's eyes lit up as he said their names. "These are Thor's men. They assisted in the escape of Thor and Loki." He said and she looked from him to the three men who stood bound by the wall, a woman with dark ebony hair sat on the floor beside them.

"You are to fight them, if they refuse, they'll face punishment. If you refuse, you'll find yourself in the cell once more. I am not doing this to be harsh, I am doing this because my best men, and woman, betrayed me and my strict orders. And also because I want to know that you will take proper care of Frigga's armor and you will defend yourself if the need shall arise." Odin said and handed her a staff.

The first one he set free was Sif and she wasted no time rushing at Syndra, who ducked back away from the ebony haired woman. "One rule, Syndra." Odin said and she ducked away from one of Sif's blades. "Do not kill." He said and her eyes went wide as she fell backwards. Sif came at her to kill, so she had to fight back or else be severely hurt. Syndra rolled to her feet and began focusing on what Loki had taught her. Three identical images of herself appeared and Sif stopped. Odin watched in interest and set Fandral free.

Then he set Hogun and Volstagg free as well, which startled Syndra, causing her to release her concentration on her clones and they vanished. Her panicked eyes shot from one to the other and then to the next. The one she was truly fearful of was Volstagg because of his stature. She dropped the staff, which confused the group who had all dropped into hand to hand stances. She took a deep breath and focused on her illusions once more images of her appeared all around them and she forced them to follow her movements. She didn't want to fight, but she knew she had to in order to prove to Odin that she could fend for herself.

Every day she had continued to practice her exercises, and she knew one day they would come to use. She fell into an unfamiliar stance to the Asgardians and took a deep breath. She was never any good at fighting, but she was good at running, but running she couldn't do. She lunged at Sif while her clones lunged at the others. Sif deflected every one of her open palmed hits, Sif whistled at the other three fending off her illusions and Syndra frowned as Sif grabbed her arm roughly.

Volstagg then brought his fist down on her, but Syndra held her free hand out and the room chilled. Odin sensed the change swiftly and called out to Syndra, who blinked and turned to look at him, her hand dropping in the process. "That was all I needed to see, thank you Sif, Volstagg, Fandral, and Hogun. You may resume your duties." Odin said and they nodded as they stepped away from Syndra, who was trying to catch her breath.

"What Frigga thought was true... Loki was teaching you to control your abilities." He said and she looked up at him from her knees. "Good, I was hoping something would have come of it. come, follow me once more. We are done with the fighting and wasting of energy. I have some recreational things to ask of you." He said and she stood and followed along behind him. He led her to a room where Kyra handed her a large box. It was of art supplies.

"Would you be so kind as to repaint the portrait of my dearest Frigga...?" he asked and she smiled. "Of course sir." She said and began setting up her needed tools. She sat cross legged on the floor and set up a canvas. She began penciling in the outlines of the image, her eyes closed as she did so; which intrigued Odin. She was recreating the image from memory alone. A smile adorned her lips as she continued to work.

About two and a half hours later... Heimdal stepped within the room where Odin was peering out a window, while she was painting an image of Thor and Loki with Frigga with the art set that Odin had provided her. Various finished paintings of Frigga, Odin, and Thor were setting on the walls to dry. The moment Heimdal's footsteps were heard, her fingers trembled, and the paintbrush hit the floor the metal binding hitting the ground was the only sound she heard. Her eyes had begun to burn before the words had even left his mouth.

"Loki sacrificed himself to save Thor... Last I saw he took the man who killed lady Frigga with him." Heimdal said and her hair blanketed her features as her head fell, but her sobs were not hidden. She hit her knees and her hands found her face to attempt to muffle her cries. Kyra ran over to her and hit her knees as well. Kyra held her close, trying desperately to figure out why those words had hurt her so much.

"Syndra." Odin's voice called, his voice held the slightest bit of masked pain; but Syndra heard it. She knew he was hurting deep down as well. She bit her lip and looked up at Odin, who had a deep frown covering his features. "Why do you cry for him? You knew him for less than a year..." Odin said and she forced a smile, although she was still visibly upset. "I was everything that he could have been... you could have imprisoned him like you did me... But you were sympathetic... You loved that boy..." She whispered and Odin sat on the steps, his pain flooding his lone eye.

"I loved those boys with all my heart... And now I'm exhausted. I can no longer uphold the responsibilities of the father they need..." He said and she nodded. "He works his way in... He gets in before you even realize that he's made it into your heart..." She whispered and Odin watched her in silence, the way her lips trembled with every word she spoke made his heart hurt as well. He clutched his chest lightly as he leaned back to take support in the steps behind him.

"I can no longer take control of my sons..." he whispered, but realization hit him and his head dropped forwards and he grit his teeth. "Son... My son... I only have one now." He said and she saw the tremble of his lips. That pained tremble mirrored her own. "Let him go..." She whispered and Odin stared at her in a sort of silent shock, but after a moment he sighed and looked to his hands once more. "He loves that Midgard woman... Jane foster..." He said and she smiled slightly.

"My mother used to tell me stories of Midgard..." She said softly as she moved to sit beside Odin. He held a hand out to her and she carefully placed her hand in his older, calloused hand. "Tell me of this... Midgard. I want to know what this place is like. My son seems to very much adore this realm." He said softly and Syndra smiled softly. "According to my mother, the realm of Midgard is called Earth." Syndra began as she placed her other hand over Odin's larger one.

Kyra also came to sit and listen to her speak. "There are felines on their planet, ranging in size from this tall," she began taking her hand and holding it about a little over a foot off the ground. "To this tall." She said moving the hand to nearly three feet from the floor. "I'm told they can get even bigger than that and range in colors. Some are ferocious beasts, while others are calm and are domesticated as pets. Like your war horses, but you can't ride them." She said and Odin listened intently.

"What is the use of an animal you can't take to battle? Something that small wouldn't do harm to anything but kill a measly little-" Kyra asked but was cut off by Syndra's laughs. "On earth they have no need for war animals." She said and Kyra blinked. "They have weapons and vehicles that help with their wars. Similar to yours, but they aren't that advanced yet." She said and Kyra looked at her oddly.

"So why do they need them domesticated then?" she asked and Syndra smiled softly. "Loki said they kept them as pets, treated them like family." She said and Kyra grinned. "So they treat them as family?" she asked, then another thought popped into her head. "So they let them sleep in the same bed with them?" she asked and Syndra blinked. "I'm not sure... Loki and my mother only told me that they love and care for the animals. That's pretty much all I know..." she said and Odin nodded.

"Did they say what the people were like? Are they all like Jane?" he asked and Syndra frowned. "Loki of course said he didn't like any of them. Thor said that there were humans that were friendly and of good company, much like the people of Asgard, but they're mortal. They don't live as long as you all." She said and Kyra frowned. "That's a shame..." she whispered and Syndra nodded. "They never get to see what happens in their lifetimes... they grow old swiftly and then they die... they can't heal quite like you all can. There are some Midgardians with extraordinary gifts though." Syndra said softly and Odin and Kyra listened intently.

"There was one group Thor spoke of, the Avengers... he said there was a man in a metal armor that they called Iron man. He could fly without wings like Thor." She said and Odin nodded. "So he was bound with this armor or did it remove itself?" Odin asked and Syndra shook her head. "I believe he said it would come off because he said something about it being odd seeing the man in Midgardian garb." She said and Kyra nodded.

"And then there are Black Widow and Hawkeye. Thor said they didn't have any real powers, just that they were exceptional fighters. He also said that the man, Hawkeye, couldn't hear without this tiny little artifact in his ears." Syndra said and Odin continued to listen in silence. "He can read lips without it, but he can't hear a word they spoke until he put the thing in his ears. I think it is unbelievable that they can have such flawed but talented warriors on Earth." Syndra said and Kyra nodded animatedly.

"What of the land, what is the land like? I wish to picture the beauty of this land." Odin said and Syndra nodded. "My mother told me that it had vast bodies of water, much of it you would be unable to drink because it was unsafe. Then she told me of the vast jungles, then of the deserts. Deserts were made of sand and the sun never seemed to stop shining, she said. It was hot there." she said and opened her mouth to speak once more, but before she could say anything else a group of guards rushed in.

She stood along with Kyra. The guards rushed at her and grabbed her hands. "Miss we need to return you to safety, we have an intruder." One of the guards said as he ushered her along. "Keep her here... I want to know who this intruder is... and I want her here with me for extra caution." Odin said as he stood and the guards hesitantly nodded, they slowly released her and turned to Kyra. "Madam. Follow us." They said and the front guard held out his hand to her. "Be safe, lady Syndra." She said as she grasped the guard's hand. Kyra vanished from sight and Odin held out the Valkyrie helm to Syndra.

Syndra braided her long white hair into a braid down her back then slipped the helmet on and took the Asgardian spear he handed her. "If these are the ones who took my son, I will need you to help me fend them off." He said as he grabbed his own spear. She nodded in silence, the pain returning once more. She had distracted herself from that pain for a moment, but now it was back. If this was the ones who had taken Loki from them, she would spare no mercy. She knew Odin wouldn't either, seeing as now they had not only taken Frigga, but Loki as well.

She clutched the staff to her tightly as she stepped to stand beside Odin, who had sat back in his throne. "And now we wait." He said and she nodded. It wasn't long before footsteps echoed down the corridor, making Syndra grasp her spear tightly. Heimdall had by now returned to his post and Kyra was supposed to be safe in the civilian's quarters. It was now just Syndra, Odin and the intruder.

The man stepped in and ran a hand through his hair and it took everything in Syndra's power not to rush at him with her spear in hand. The hurt anger that was rushing through her veins was understandable in all reality. She figured Odin probably felt the same way. Her eyes landed on Odin, who stood and made his way towards the intruder. He held a hand up to her, motioning her not to react just yet.

"Loki." he greeted and the ebony haired male offered him an exhausted look. "I was informed you had been killed. It seems I was deceived." Odin said and Loki repressed a sneer. "I bet you would love that, wouldn't you, father?" he asked, his tone filled with venom on the last word. It seemed as if the word burned him to say it to Odin. Syndra saw the hurt flash through Odin's eyes, but it vanished as soon as it had appeared.

"Why have you come here then, Loki?" Odin asked and the look of irritation did not leave the ebony haired man's eyes or face. "It's a long story, and I doubt you'd understand in the slightest. However it seems you've had Syndra quite busy down there since I've been gone." Loki said as he looked around at all the paintings. "Seems she's been painting everything that pops into your mind, hasn't she? Poor dear, must be exhausted answering to your every artistic whim." He sneered as his eyes landed on the portrait of himself, Frigga, and Thor. In that particular portrait, he and Thor were children surrounding Frigga.

"Get to the point and explain why you are here. I don't have time for this with Melekith stampeding about." Odin cut in and Loki looked up at him with an annoyed look. "It is simple enough, to be completely honest with you, I'm surprised you haven't already figured it out." Loki said as he dusted off his outer coat gently. He looked up at Odin and the subtle smirk that crossed his lips was enough to make her chest hurt. She had trusted him and she never should have... he was a wolf in sheep's clothing, as Thor had told her. The smirk vanished however when Loki opened his mouth to speak once more.

"I seek the girl... I promised her, that I would help her get her freedom..." he said and her heart jumped and her jaw fell open the slightest bit. She couldn't have heard him right. She couldn't have. She blinked and shook her head slightly as if she was hearing things, but he said it again, but the next statement was what hurt her once more. Her eyes became downcast and she bit her lip lightly as she grasped the spear even tighter than before.

"And the only way I see her getting that... Is over your dead body, father..." Loki said and Odin frowned at him. "It doesn't have to go this way..."Odin said softly and Loki frowned at him, his eyes filled with distrust. "You know it does." Loki said, his tone filled with anger causing Odin to prepare his spear. Loki lunged for Odin, but Odin cast a spell right at him, but something stopped it. Odin's eyes mirrored the same shock that was in Loki's eyes as he saw that she had jumped in front of the beam.

When Odin had stopped the spell it was already too late. A smile slipped across Syndra's lips as every part of her acquired Asgardian armor shattered and fell away. Everywhere that a fragment of her armor fell, a spot of burning light formed and began melting the ground beneath her feet. Piece by piece her armor fell away and a bright light engulfed her form. As the last of her armor fell off she apologized to Loki before she fell into the portal, his hands barely brushing past hers as she vanished within. Loki hit his knees on the spot she had vanished digging his nails into the hard rock door beneath his hands.

It had taken a moment of Loki staring at the floor where she had vanished before he spoke even a word. His fingers gently brushed the place where she had vanished to. His trembling fingers halted and his blue eyes trailed up to look at Odin slowly. He was so confused. He didn't understand this in the slightest. "Why?" he asked. He repeated his question when his eyes met Odin's. "You..."

"You were going to exile me?" Loki whispered questioningly. He didn't understand this in the slightest. Not an inkling of this made sense in his mind. He was an intellectual mind, so some of this he should come to understand, but this... he just couldn't wrap his mind around it in the slightest. He sat back onto his feet and looked directly at Odin. "I'd come fully prepared to kill you, but you were going to spare me... Why?" Loki whispered from his place on his knees. A look he had never seen Odin show towards him appeared and he couldn't help the tears that threatened to fall.

"Because, Loki..." Odin began and Loki bit the inside of his cheek. "You are my son and I love you..." he said and that caused the dam to burst. He had spent so long forcing himself to hate this man because he felt he would never be anything in his eyes, but Odin was treating him just like he had Thor... he was looking at him the way he had looked at Thor... he bit his lip and dropped his head so he could keep whatever dignity he had left, if he even had any that his father's eyes hadn't burned away upon seeing his tears.

"Now I want you to pay for your crimes..." Odin began and Loki's head jolted up to look at him. "I... Odin the Allfather... Banish you... Loki laufeyson... Until you learn what makes a true king." Odin said and Loki stared up at him in a mixture of fear and surprise. A small smile crossed Odin's lips at the look he got from his son. He had never seen the dark haired man so confused. Never. It suited him being confused for once. It suited him looking human. He didn't look right filled with rage.

"Go find her." Odin sighed as he turned to sit upon the steps by his throne once more. "Goodbye my sons... I'm letting you both go... You both have much greater things to accomplish in this life than being inclined to obey this old soul's every wish." Odin said softly. "I will see you when your return, my sons."


	7. Banished

Pale blue eyes searched his surroundings and he wanted to use every single curse he had learned from his time spent with the midgardians. This was absolutely his luck. He glanced up at the sky and sneered, he wondered if his father knew where he was dropping him. He felt that somehow he knew exactly what this place was to him. This place was absolute hell to him absolute hell. He grimaced and looked up at the tall buildings around him.

If his father had gotten one single tiny little thing right, he had dropped into an alleyway that didn't seem to get much attention from the people moving about the city. He glanced around him and sighed once more. His Asgardian garb faded to the image of the Midgard garb he had worn to visit Thor when he was being held by that Coulson fellow when he had been banished. Loki pulled the dress coat closer around him and tossed the green and gold scarf back over his shoulder.

He walked out of the alleyway and looked up towards the tallest building he could see. It just so happened to be Stark tower. The thought made him grimace yet again. He hated this city with a passion. He hated New York. He hated it with such a burning passion. He met eyes with a woman as he had begun walking once more. She blinked and then looked to the man she was with and whispered something to him. The man looked his way as well, but Loki continued on. He didn't want to attract too much attention.

He knew what would happen if he did. The memory of the big green fellow was still prominent in his mind. He did not like being rag dolled by a beast in the slightest. However, it seemed that the beast wasn't around. Or maybe he was just trying to lie to himself. He didn't want to think of that dreadful little boy band at the moment. His only concern was her. He had to find her. And he knew he had to do it swiftly.

He stopped by a little news stand and the woman behind the counter smiled at him brightly. "Good morning, Sir." She greeted and he offered a small smile. "How are you today?" she asked and he watched her with careful eyes. "I'm in a bit of a pinch here, dear." He said and she smiled even brighter at him. "Alrighty how can I help you?" she asked and he pursed his lips in thought. "I'm looking for my lady friend. You wouldn't have happened to have seen her have you?" he asked and she tilted her head lightly. "I see a lot of people every day, if you could give me a better description I might be able to help." She said with a smile and he nodded.

"Alright." He began. "She's about this tall," he began, raising his hand to his side, almost to his shoulder, but not quite. "And she has white hair almost to her hips, but not quite there. last I saw she had it in a braid. She's got brilliant blue eyes, almost like the color of your marker there." he said pointing at her bright blue highlighter. "But her eyes are odd, she has a medical condition and she can't be outside without sunglasses. She left home without them today and I'm dreadfully worried because she won't be able to see." He explained and the girl gave him a sympathetic look.

"I'm sorry, I haven't seen her... however, if I do I will find a way to let you know. Just be sure to stop by here every now and again and I will let you know if I have seen her." The woman said and he nodded. "Thank you." He said and she beamed at him. "It's no problem, I know I would panic if my friend were missing in New York, too. The place is too big and far o dangerous to be wandering around without being able to see very well." She said and he nodded. "Thank you again, I am very grateful to you." He said and she waved him off as he made his way down the street.

This was wonderful...

Absolutely wonderful.

He glanced up and saw the same news stand that he had passed by about six times now. How hard could it be to navigate this town? Very hard. Apparently very hard and very irritatingly difficult. He glanced up and saw that Stark tower was still to his left, which meant... he needed to cross the street to the right. He turned to cross the street and noticed that his face was plastered on that damnable news stand.

His upper lip twitched in annoyance. That conniving little...

He took a deep breath and attempted to sink into the crowd as it crossed the street, but they were going the opposite direction and each of them were looking him right in the face. This couldn't possibly end well for him, he already knew this. The whispered only proceeded to get louder as more people passed him. The streets silenced, all of the cars stopped moving completely and there were even people recording him as he looked their way.

He bit his lip slightly and cursed his luck. The crowds had all stopped moving and those that were around him had formed a circle with a five foot radius around him. The flashing of cameras and phone lights made him curse his luck all over again. However, his amusement showed when all electronics in the area became taken over with a salt and pepper screen of static. Everyone within his range began looking at their phones in confusion.

"Seems like you shouldn't be recording an innocent man." He said and they looked up at him from their phones. "I may look like that Loki fellow, but I assure you I am not. My name is Thomas Sharpe. You wouldn't believe the amount of times this has happened to me elsewhere." He chuckled and the people eyed him wearily. "I assure you I am just a common Englishman on a business trip to New York." He said and they muttered to themselves.

"I assure you that the only reason I am still here is because I have lost a certain friend of mine and I am desperately trying to find her." He said, but a familiar mechanical noise filled his ears from behind and he dropped his hand from his chest. He looked up at the crowd to see them dispersing within nearby establishments. "So... Thomas Sharpe huh?" the amused mechanical voice chuckled.

Loki grit his teeth as the illusion of his familiar armor formed over him, a spear in hand as he spun and lunged for the man in the red and gold suit. Iron man avoided his swipe easily. "I meant no harm." Loki snarled as Tony hovered around to settle in front of him. "No harm?" that's a new one." Tony said in a snarky tone as he shot towards Loki. Loki took off in a run, ditching the spear as he ran. The spear vanished from sight, seeing as it had only been an illusion to get some distance between Stark and himself.

Loki dove behind a nearby car and tried to hide under it, but Stark lifted the car off the ground and Loki took off running once more. However, this time he created illusions to help him escape. 'The real one is running to the left, sir.' Jarvis' voice echoed within Stark's helmet. Tony completely ignored the illusory clones and dove straight for the real Loki. Stark sent him flying with a metal foot in the center of his back.

Loki released a pained yell as he hit the ground and went rolling. Loki struggled to get to his feet as Stark swooped over him once more, grabbing him by the collar of his coat and lifting him off the ground once more. Loki struggled in Tony's grasp, only to pull his knees to his chest and use the force from shoving himself off of Stark to free himself. Loki landed on the ground and held his hands together, his eyes bleeding red for a moment as the air chilled.

Before Loki could conjure anything to help him get away Stark hit him with a blast from his gauntlets. Loki hit the ground a few feet away, nursing his now burned torso. His hands clutched his chest as he struggled to catch his breath. Stark landed nearby and walked over to him, only to crouch beside him and grab him by the throat. "See, Loki. This is why you need to think over your little plans of domination." Tony sighed, amusement thick in his tone.

"They'll never work, buddy." Tony sighed, his other hand on his hip as he tightened the grip on Loki's throat with the other hand. Loki was struggling for air, his mouth opening and closing while the only sounds escaping him were the sounds of him desperately struggling to get oxygen in his lungs. Tears pricked at Loki's eyes and Tony furrowed his brows. He had never seen the Asgardian so pitiful.

"Why aren't you fighting back for real?" he asked as he slowly released his grip on Loki's throat. He didn't release it enough for Loki to be able to get free, nor did he release it enough for Loki to get the full capacity of air he needed. Tony was curious as to why Loki wasn't going all out. "What was that?" Tony asked as Loki tried to say something but all he could managed was a desperate rasp of a word.

"If I put you down and you run I'm going to beat you until you can't walk, do you hear me?" Tony asked and Loki struggled out a nod. The moment Tony dropped Loki, Loki took off in an all out run. "Dammit man, don't you understand what I meant by that?" he asked with a deep sigh as he blasted Loki once more, this time Loki slammed into a car. When Loki saw him coming once more he shoved himself off the ground and tried to run once more, but Iron man collided with his back and he hit the ground face first.

This time Tony wasn't going to let him up. Tony attempted to punch him in the face, but Loki grabbed his hand and used all his strength to try and push it away from him. It impacted the asphalt on the opposite side of his face that Tony was trying to hit. "I could step on you, you pitiful little Asgardian. End you like the annoying little insect you are." Tony ground out as he stood from his place over Loki. He then proceeded to place his foot in the center of Loki's chest and add pressure.

Loki grabbed his foot with both hands and struggled to try and shove it off of him, but to no avail. He was once more struggling for breath. "What Loki? No usual smart ass comebacks?" Tony asked as he slowly added more pressure. "Are you regretting not taking the offer for that drink now?" Loki cried out in pain, but that wasn't what made Stark remove the majority of the pressure that he'd placed on Loki's chest.

It was what he said.

"I'm here for her... I'm here to save her! I have to find her!" Loki had yelled with desperate breaths. Stark crouched down beside him after he removed his foot. He grabbed Loki by the collar once more and sat him up once more. "Find who?" Stark asked and Loki looked at him with pain filled eyes. "I have to find Syndra." He said, his tone still breathless. Stark watched him intently, trying to decipher any small tick of deceit from him.

"You're here to find a woman?" he asked Loki and Loki nodded weakly. "Might I ask why exactly this woman is so important that you continuously run from me? Even under threat of yet another physical beatdown?" Tony asked and Loki watched him through half lidded eyes. "You know if you don't tell me I will just continue to beat the shit out of you. You have honestly had this ass kicking coming for a year now." Tony said and Loki offered a smirk.

"I know." He said, that smirk fading from his lips. "I understand why you want me dead." He said and Tony watched him carefully. "Yeah, well you being all... uh... regretful and stuff is really not helping my want to kick your ass. Kinda makes me feel like shit, stop it." Tony snapped and Loki looked up at him in confusion. "I'm going to ask again, and if I don't get an answer this time I'm going to let the videos of you being on Earth again hit the internet so everyone will know." Tony threatened and Loki sighed.

"She's important to me because..." Loki began but his mind went blank for a moment. Why was she important to him? Was it because she was his friend? Was it because she had jumped in front of him to save him? Was it because she was quite possibly the reason Odin treated him like he did Thor? Was it because she had been a face he had seen day after day and had become fond of? What exactly was it? His lips pursed as he pondered these thoughts.

"Well?" Tony asked, stirring him from his thoughts. Loki looked up at the man who had actually revealed his face to talk to him this time. "I owe her..." Loki said and Tony stared at him in irritation. "She was banished from Asgard trying to save me." Loki explained and Tony stood and grabbed Loki by his coat collar once more. Loki flinched away, expecting another hit but it never came. He looked over at Tony and his helmet had already snapped shut once more.

"Come with me." Tony said and motioned for Loki to follow him. Loki took off in a swift limping hobble after the man. He wasn't going to risk another injury from the man by trying to run off again. He was already in enough pain as is. Loki watched as the Ironman suit flew from Tony's form piece by piece. It all flew straight up to Stark tower. Tony shoved his hands in his pockets with an audible sigh.

"You alright back there Sir Hobbler of Asgard?" he asked and Loki sent him a dirty look. "I told you not to run." Tony said in his own defense. "Yes, well, when one is told not to run by the person who just tried to choke the life out of them, the first instinct is to try and get away. Hence the running." Loki spat and Tony chuckled as the front door to the Stark tower opened in front of them.

"Jarvis, take us all the way up." Tony said and the doors closed before the two of them. "Of course sir." Jarvis said and Loki quirked a brow. Tony just smirked at the Asgardian. "Artificial intelligence, Jarvis has been here for me since the start. Haven't you Jarvis?" Tony asked and Loki listened for the reply. "Not quite sir, you did have to create me." Jarvis said and Tony rolled his eyes.

"Alright smart ass you know what I meant." Tony sighed and Loki smirked once more. "Of course I did, sir." Jarvis said and Loki refrained from chuckling. The elevator doors opened to a room filled with computers and robots all around. "Jarvis, pop up holograms." Tony commanded and the table in the center of the room lit up with holographic objects. "Ok Loki, I'm going to help you." Tony said and Loki looked over at him in surprise.

"This girl..." Tony began, earning a confused look from Loki. "What does she look like?" he asked and Loki limped over to the table and looked at all the images of faces flashing all over the place. "Why would you help me?" Loki asked as he reached to touch a hologram. "Because I've seen that look before... The one that was in your eyes when you were trying to figure out what to say... I've had that look in my eyes many times." Stark said as he set up the software so that Loki could create a rendering of the woman.

"The look in my eyes?" Loki asked and Tony nodded. "Yeah... that little confused look. In time you'll figure out what it means, but I'm going to help you find her." Tony said as he stepped away from the table. "If she becomes an issue, like you were... I will not hesitate to take affirmative action. And I promise you that." Tony said and Loki nodded, still pondering what Tony meant by that confused look in his eye.

"In time you'll figure out what she means to you, right now, though... you need to find her. Preferably before someone else does that has bad intentions for her." Tony said and Loki nodded. "Ok so how you work this thing is, you find the features that closely resemble her own, and then you can build a rendering of her face. That will help us find her." Tony said and Loki nodded as he reached for the first part.

"You can also stretch and smooth until it looks just right." Tony added at the last moment. "Alright..." Loki started as he focused on the Holo-table. The doors opened and a woman squealed in surprise, but her noises didn't bother Loki as he set to finding the right parts. "Tony!" the woman squealed in a hushed tone, which made Loki glance at her from the corner of his eyes. It was the ginger haired woman that always followed Stark around. His eyes flickered back to the task at hand.

"Tony Stark! What on earth are you doing!" she shrieked and Tony chuckled as he made his way over to her. He placed a finger to his lips to hush her and she only proceeded to get angry with him. "What were you thinking Tony! Isn't that-" she began but he silenced her with a swift kiss. She closed her eyes and Loki smirked, he could tell there was anger coming. "Oh I know you did not just-" she began but he did it again and she opened her mouth to speak again. This time she grabbed his mouth with her hand as he tried to silence her that way once more.

"Is that Loki?" she asked angrily and he opened his mouth to speak but she pressed the palm of her hand over his mouth to silence him. "Don't speak. Just nod." She said angrily and he obeyed her with a nod. "Isnt he the one who nearly destroyed New York in its entirety?" she asked and he opened his mouth once more but she glared at him and he nodded once more. She took a deep breath and released it, only to slowly remove her hand from his mouth.

"Alright... Now explain, now." She demanded and Tony scratched his head and opened his mouth to speak, but she glared at him. "Don't even try and B.S. your way out of it. I want the truth." She snapped and he nodded. "I'm helping him." Tony said and she paused, closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and gently closed her hands into themselves. She released this breath and opened her eyes once more.

"So let me get this straight." She began. "You." She said and pointed at Stark. "Are helping him, the homicidal maniac who forced you to go through a rift into space and nearly DIE." She said as she pointed at Loki. And Tony just nodded. "What are you helping him with exactly?" she asked, the anger still present, but now it just seemed she was desperately willing this to be a horrible dream and she was going to wake soon.

She was rubbing her eyes and Tony cleared his throat and was going to speak but Loki did first. "He's helping me find my friend." Loki said offhandedly and Pepper buried her face in her hands and made a noise that sounded like a cross between crying, screaming, and laughing. When she removed her hands from her face and released the deep breath she had pulled in, she looked at Stark.

"Do you not realize what kind of friends he usually has? Or have you forgotten?" she hissed and Tony smiled at her. "No! Don't you smile at me!" she snapped and he reached out towards her and she stepped back away from him. "I am so angry at you right now, don't you dare touch me." she hissed and Tony pouted at her. "To be honest, Mrs. Potts..." Loki began and she snapped her head to look at him.

"No, don't you talk to me either." She snapped but he rolled his eyes and continued anyways. "Those were not my friends. I can fully assure you of that." Loki continued and Pepper continued to glare at him. "This woman though..." Loki said as he reached to stretch and smooth the features of the holographic face. "I can assure you that she will be of no harm to any of you. I am just trying to find her because she is in danger." Loki said and Pepper stepped over to the table to look at the image of the woman that Loki had created.

"Why is she in danger?" Pepper asked and Loki turned to face away from the two in the room. They were confused as to why he wouldn't look at them, but what he said made sense as to why. He didn't want them to see the weakness that he was showing them. He didn't want them to see that he was truly worried about this woman. Pepper looked up at Tony who had a smirk on his lips and she glared at him. She looked at Loki with sympathetic eyes that she never thought she'd have for anyone with his reputation.

"She's in danger because of me... Not because I would ever hurt her... But because I know people who will hurt her to get to me."

:-:_:-:

She glanced up at the dark sky and sighed. She looked about thirty feet across the way and saw that there was something imprinted in the ground there. She made her way over to it and touched it. It had the same pattern as the area she had landed in, which made her smile. This meant that someone from Asgard had come here. She ran her fingers over it and it was freezing cold, it didn't hold the warmth of the magic her Celtic circle had.

A frown crossed her lips because of this. That meant the circle before her was far too old to have been Loki's, if Loki had even actually been transported here as well. Her eyes became downcast as she stood to her full height. She thought Odin was going to kill Loki, which was the only reason she had actually jumped in front of him. She thought that her last act of kindness towards Loki was going to be her saving his life. She thought she was going to die.

She thought her suffering was over. Now... it's just beginning. She had no idea where she was, but she hoped that Loki was alright. A small smile crossed her lips as she strolled forwards. The look of fear she had seen in Loki's eyes gave her hope that he and Odin were going to work something out. She looked back up to the sky. A full moon shined its rays down on her pale skin. She smiled softly and made her way towards the lights she saw in the distance.

She had walked for what felt like weeks, but she was just being dramatic. She saw that there was light peeking up from over the horizon and she knew she didn't have long before the sun of this planet graced her with its boundless light. She saw a building in the distance and she began running towards it. When she got there she sat down under the canopy that sheltered it from the sun's rays.

Needless to say she preferred the moon of this realm; it was more resigned with the sharing of its light. A young girl spotted her sitting by the building after who even knows how long. The little blonde sat in front of her on her feet and smiled at her. Syndra wasn't expecting her to smile so brightly at her. "Hello." The little girl greeted, which made Syndra smile. "Hello young one." She greeted back and the little girl's eyes lit up.

"I love your accent, where are you from?" she asked excitedly and Syndra blinked in confusion. "I'm from Jotunh-" she began but smiled and spoke once more. "I'm from Asgard, where are you from?" Syndra asked and the little girls eyes shined so brightly that it made Syndra's chest flutter. She had never met anyone so excited to hear where she was from. "This is New mexico. We are in the United States on Planet Earth." She said and Syndra's eyes widened as she opened her mouth to ask the young girl how she knew what she was asking. "I know because I have met someone from Asgard before, yes I did. Oh yes I sure did." The little girl chirped excitedly.

Syndra's eyes crinkled with her smile and the little girl reached for Syndra's hair. She had flinched away at first, but once she saw what the little girl was doing she sat still. "You have very pretty hair miss." She said and Syndra smiled. "Thank you, yours is pretty as well." She said and the little girl giggled behind her hands, a soft red blush coating her cheeks as she shook her head rapidly.

"So why are you on Earth?" the little girl asked after she had gotten over her little fit of embarrassment. "Um. I'm not sure actually. I'm not here to hurt anyone, but I don't have a particular reason for being here." Syndra said and the little girl pouted. "Aww, shucks." She muttered and Syndra looked at her in confusion. "What is it?" Syndra asked and the little girl sighed heavily. "I thought you were here to be a superhero like the mighty Thor." She said in exasperation.

"Why do you need a hero here?" Syndra asked, fear gripping her chest. The little girl looked at her and frowned. It seemed the little girl could see she was scared. "There's this guy over in England causing trouble. Me.... Mel... Melek something..." the little girl sighed as she scratched the side of her head. "Melekith?" Syndra asked and her fears were confirmed when the little girl snapped her fingers and grinned at her.

"Yeah that's it!" she exclaimed and Syndra's eyes hit the ground, that familiar prickling of tears at the back of her eyes. "Miss?" the little girl called worriedly. "I'm sorry if I upset you miss." She said and patted her on the head. "It's ok..." Syndra whispered, but the little girl's lower lip began to tremble as well. "I'm sorry I made you cry..." she sobbed and Syndra looked up at her quickly. Syndra pulled her into a small embrace and the little girl's sniffles slowly stopped.

"Here look at this." Syndra said, trying to divert the girl's attention from her previous sadness. Syndra held her hands together, then when she pulled them apart there was another of the blue ice roses in between her thumb, pointer, and index finger. The little girl's eyes lit up like they had never lit up before. Her little mouth agape in awe as she took the ice rose from Syndra's grasp.

"Wow!" she exclaimed and stood. "Wait here!" she said and then took off around the corner of the building. She came back a few minutes later with a group of people, mainly adults, but there were some children there as well. Syndra pressed herself into the wall of the building in her discomfort. "Miss! Miss! Will you show them too?" the little girl asked and the people murmured around her.

"They won't hurt you, I promise! Everyone, this is a friend of Thor's!" the little girl chirped and they all looked down on her. Their stares made her increasingly nervous. "I'm gonna call her Elsa!" the little girl chirped happily, but Syndra was not comfortable with all these people around her. "Casey tells us that you are trying to find your way to the battle with Melekith. Is this true?" an older man asked, and Syndra nodded slightly.

"I suppose so..." she said softly and the man offered her a hand. She carefully took his hand and he pulled her to her feet. "Forgive us, Miss. Little Casey just gets overly excited more often than not." He said and the little girl pouted at him. "I do not." She whined and Syndra laughed softly. She looked around at all the people surrounding her and sighed, her smile vanishing. "Will you make me a rose?" an older woman asked and Syndra blinked in confusion.

The elderly woman had hopeful eyes. A small smile found its way to Syndra's lips. "Of course." She said softly. "They may melt, but it will take a long time so I would be sure to keep them cold." Syndra said as she held her hands together and closed her eyes. She handed the elderly woman a bouquet of the ice roses. The crowd erupted in murmurs and she couldn't help but smile as everyone became awestruck because of what she had done.

Soon she began handing them out to everyone that had walked over, and before long, there wasn't a person in the small town that didn't have a rose. "Miss, may I ask your name?" the elderly woman asked once the crowd had died down. "My name is Syndra." She said softly and the elderly woman smiled. "Lovely." She whispered and held out her hand to Syndra, who hesitated to take it.

"It's alright dear, I won't hurt you." The elderly woman said and Syndra smiled sadly. "I know... it's just I can't see in the sunlight..." she said and the woman smiled and nodded. She walked away, but came back a few minutes later. She held out a pair of sunglasses for Syndra. "I'm not sure how much these will help, but we can try them out." she said and Syndra furrowed her brows at the things in the woman's grasp.

The woman stepped forwards and carefully placed the sunglasses over Syndra's eyes. Syndra looked around in awe. "It's so dark." she said as she looked all around her. The woman held out her hand once more and Syndra took it this time. "I'm going to get you some things you might need for your journey." The woman said and Syndra stared at her in surprise. "T-thank you..." she managed and the elderly woman smiled at her.

"You are very welcome lady Syndra. I'm just content being able to assist a future defender of Earth." She said and Syndra smiled, but the frown in her eyes was evident. "I don't know where to start..." she said and the woman smiled over at her when they had reached her home. "Your path will show itself to you in due time. To start you just need to travel. You need to go searching for your path." The woman said and Syndra listened intently.

"Once you begin searching for your path, your destiny will find you all on its own."


	8. Searching For You

She sat in the back of the truck and stared at the stars. The man had agreed to carry her to Tennessee with him. She glanced around at all the green trees. The trees were beautiful  and she had never actually seen so many trees in her life. Everything about this state was beautiful in her eyes. She honestly wasn't sure if this was the right way for her to go. She was searching for something, but she didn't know what she was searching for anymore. According to the humans and their tracking of time, it was late march. So according to her calculations, she had been here almost three months now. She felt as if she had been travelling in circles.

She had met so many different and strange people, but the all had looked at her like she was some sort of... monster. This legitimately pained her heart. Even though she always said she was a friend of Thor's no one truly believed her and so they shunned her away. She was lucky she had found certain people in the world who helped her and didn't judge her for what she looked like. She wondered if she could find Thor here on... Earth? Yes, it was definitely Earth. She couldn't deny that much.

She sighed as she looked at the silver and black object in her grasp. The woman had given her this strange piece of technology that needed a charge. The woman said it could be used to contact other people who had one and to find her way to different places. She had asked the man to help her figure out how it worked. He had smiled at her and showed her how to use the many different applications, as he had called them. She pulled up the calendar and stared at the date for a moment.

She then sighed and logged on to the internet. The news articles all spoke of the Stark tower and how it was a technological icon. She scrolled down the page with all the news articles on it and her hand trembled as she saw a picture of the start tower. It wasn't so much the Stark tower that had caught her eyes. It was the image of the two men standing on the balcony of the Stark tower when the picture had been taken. She couldn't be certain, but one man looked to bear a striking resemblance to Thor.

She knew where she was going to go now. At least she now had a destination in mind rather than the random wandering she had been doing as of late. The man pulled up to a small store and he patted the side of the truck to let her know he was coming around. "Miss?" he called out to her and she turned to look at him with a small smile. "Yes?" she asked and he offered her a hand to get out of the truck bed. "Have you figured out where you are headed yet, or still trying to decide?" he asked as she followed him into the small store.

"I think I may try to go to New York..." she said and he smiled at her. "Small town life not what you're looking for then?" he asked and she shook her head. "No, everyone here has been so kind to me, even though they clearly see I am different. I love this place... this beautiful and hospitable place... but I saw someone in a picture of the Stark tower and I realized I knew him. I didn't know he had come here as well so I was excited to see him in the picture." She said and the man smiled at her as he set some food in his cart. He motioned around him with a smile. "If there is anything you would like to eat, feel free to grab it. On me." He said and she stared at him in awe. "I shouldn't... You've already done so much for me..." she said and he chuckled softly.

"I must insist. You won't make it far without any food or drinks. You've been lucky to have found so many people willing to help you out so far, but I want to make sure that once you head to New York you have things to get there. Some people there are not so kind, dear." He said and she nodded. "Well I certainly appreciate everything you do for me." She said softly and he smiled at her. "You are very welcome. So you never told me, who are you searching for that has you basically hitchhiking across the country?" he asked and she smiled. "A friend of mine, Thor."

He stared at her in slight awe as the words escaped her. "That's actually pretty interesting. I never would have guessed that." He said as they strolled down another isle. "He took care of me while I was trapped in his father's prison." She said and he stared at her curiously, obviously taken off guard by the fact she said she'd been in prison. "I had snuck into the realm of Asgard by following Thor's brother, even though Loki hadn't noticed I had snuck in either. I was only trying to find somewhere I could call home, but seeing as the place I had fled from was filled with dangerous people trying to find me, they locked me away in the prison to keep me safe." She said and he nodded in understanding. 

"Now that is more understandable." He chuckled and she stared at him oddly. "I couldn't picture you being some sort of criminal, but then again anyone could be in this day and age." He said and she nodded. Her eyes softened slightly and she looked away. 'I don't want to scare him away, so I can't ever tell him how dangerous I can actually be... this man... he is a friend in this world and I would like for him to stay as such.' She smiled and reached for a small box that sat on the shelf in her line of sight. "Pop... tarts?" she spoke the words slowly and he watched her with a small smile. 

"Those ring a bell for you?" he asked and she nodded. "Thor loves them." She giggled lightly and he chuckled with her. "Well Thor can get his own. I am getting things for you." He joked lightly and she smiled brightly at him. "Well... I don't know what I would like..." she said and he scratched his chin in thought, the soft scratching noise his beard made resounding on her sensitive ears. "Well... do you like sweets? Or do you like salty or bitter things?" he asked and she pursed her lips in thought. 

"Honestly I'm not sure. I suppose I could try a few things." She said and he nodded. "Alright, well we aren't going to start off with anything super sweet or bitter." He said and grabbed a small bag of powdered donuts. He placed them into the buggy only to push it further down the aisle and look around a bit. She reached and picked up a colorful box and was startled by the noise it made. She shook it once more and furrowed her brows. "Those are nerds." He said and she blinked at him. "They're really tiny candies. You can pour them into your hand and eat a whole bunch of them all at once." He said and she nodded, slightly understanding the idea of the candy within.

She looked around the aisle some more and her eyes landed on a familiar treat, causing them to light up. "Ah. So you like those do you?" he asked, seeing her grab the box in excitement. "Gushers and Fruit by the foot... Thor would bring me some when I was locked away." She said and he smiled. "Toss them in then. Then we can go find you something else." He said and she nodded. "I like water in those strange containers with the lids..." she said and he blinked. "The colored waters? The ones that taste like fruit..." she tried to explain, but she could tell he didn't quite understand. She jogged ahead and searched around for a moment, only to see what she had tried to talk about. 

"These." She said, shaking the bottle lightly. "Oh! Gatorade and Powerade." He said and she nodded. "I couldn't remember the name and Thor couldn't pronounce it." She said with a small bashful smile. "I understand." He said as he motioned for her to grab a few. "I've had bottled waters, they are alright, I just would like some sort of flavor every now and then." She said and he nodded as he made his way down another aisle.

She was enjoying the time she spent with this man and he seemed to enjoy the time as well. "Why did you decide to help me?" she asked and he smiled. "I have a daughter, and if my daughter ever got lost and couldn't find her way back home I would want someone to be kind enough to help her get back. I would want someone to do for her what I would do for anyone. I honestly think its common human decency to assist someone who needs it, whether you know them or not. I figure it's just good karma on my part to help those in need. You also remind me of my daughter in a sense. She's an intellectual type and you just have that similar demeanor." He explained and she nodded with a smile.

"I do love to learn." She said as they walked up to the register with their buggy full of items. He had picked up a large backpack, a sleeping bag, and a travel pillow as well. "Are those for me as well?" she asked and he nodded. "There's going to be a time when I can't get you any closer to your destination, and if you have to head out walking once more, I would like to know that you have something to carry all of your items, rather than the small pull string bag you had when I met you." He said and she smiled appreciatively.

A chill ran down her spine and she began looking around. The man, Dave, as he had introduced himself to her; watched her carefully. "Are you ok?" he asked and she looked at him with fearful eyes. "I feel like someone is watching me... and it's not a friendly gaze I'm feeling." She whispered and he frowned deeply. "Why don't you head outside." He offered and she nodded. "I will see you when you get out of here then. If anything happens, please... do not chase after me." She said softly and he frowned.

"Please be careful. If you are being watched, meet me back here once you get away from whoever it is. I am gonna check into the hotel down the street. Just... meet back up with me so I know you are safe..." he said and she nodded. "I will, I promise." She said and he offered a concerned smile. She turned and made her way outside of the store only for a sound to hit her ears and she spun to try and pinpoint its location. The first projectile came at her and she managed to dodge it smoothly, the resounding echo the weapon created caused people to run out and try and figure out what was going on.

Her new friend, Dave, was one of said people.

A second shot rang out and it struck her in the shoulder, eliciting a scream from her. She clutched her shoulder tightly and saw that he was running over to her, but she shook her head. "You need to go back inside. It's too dangerous. Think of your daughter." She managed and he bit his lip but ran back into the store. She stood shakily and ran out into the surrounding woods behind the store. The person chasing her was definitely hot on her trail, she had heard his heavy footsteps.

She frowned as she continued to run. She definitely wasn't his first target, she could tell because he wasn't going to try and kill her out in the open. He had tried to spook her into the woods and he had. She wasn't going to go down without a fight though. Whoever this person was, they knew what they were doing. Except she didn't think he knew who he was actually dealing with, or what to be exact. That didn't stop her from being scared though...

She spun on her heel and lunged for the attacker, who dodged her easily. She saw the shimmer of his mechanical arm in the dark of the night. "Who are you?!" she snapped and he swiped a knife from the holster on his thigh. He lunged for her but she attempted to dodge his every hit. She ducked and dodged swiftly but he was fast. He managed to clip some of her hair with the blade and it fluttered in the wind as she continued to avoid him.

She wasn't fighting back because her shoulder was hindering her. She reached in and tried to dig out the projectile that had hit her, all the while dodging him and his flurry of swipes. He relented for a moment and she took off running. "What do you want from me?" she cried out as he jumped from a tree and landed a kick to her back. "I have an assignment to kill you." He said and she stared at him with wide eyes as he slammed her back down on the ground. She cried out in pain and he grabbed her wrists with his mechanical arm. He forced them behind her back and he forced her to her knees.

The blade only needed to touch the soft skin of her neck before she began to panic even more than before. She didn't want to die. Her eyes bled red and the wind around her picked up, causing him to attempt to swiftly slice through the skin of her neck. As soon as he left her arms go, one hand flew up to her neck and ice coated the wound, sealing it off so no more blood could escape. She turned to him, her eyes shaky as she held a hand out in his direction. Ice began to form and she swung her hand up and the ice followed her movements. When she swung her wrist down, the ice flew at the man and collided with him, sending him flying backwards into a tree, destroying the metal arm in the process.

After she had done that, she fell face first into the ground her eyes rolling up and her ice beginning to melt. 'I... I'm sorry Loki...' she thought as she drifted into unconsciousness. The last thing in her line of sight was someone rushing at her, then darkness.

-:-:-:-

Loki stared at the screen that Stark had shown him before. He knew this thing had to work somehow. "Stark." He called out and the man peered out of his office to stare at him. "How do you make this thing work?" he asked and Tony chuckled and made his way over to the computer and rotated some holograms and pulled up a picture. "Is this what you're looking for?" he asked and Loki nodded. "I was hoping to see if anyone had seen her yet." He said and Tony pulled up a chair beside Loki.

"Lets see here then." Tony trailed off and started typing away on the holographic keyboard. "Is this her?" he asked and pulled a picture across the screen. "Yes, that is her." Loki sighed in relief. "She's in Tennessee..." Tony said as he pulled more pictures around. "Apparently she was attacked..." Tony muttered and Loki lunged to his feet and rand for the door. "Loki, where do you think you are going?" Tony asked and he swiveled to look at the frantic dark haired man.

"She's-" "Probably not there anymore. You people heal faster than humans, remember?" Tony interjected and Loki frowned. "But..." "But nothing Loki... there are no hospital records so she must have been able to walk away from it. According to the news article she had saved a group of people by leading the attacker away, but no one found him. They only found her injured in the woods." He said and Loki fisted his hands.

"She had a friend who helped her get the care she needed, so I'm guessing she is perfectly fine." He said and he watched as Loki sat down and rubbed his hands over his face. "You must care deeply for this woman." Tony said, breaking the silence that had befallen them. Loki looked at him with eyes swimming with emotion, but mainly confusion. "I don't know what I feel for her, all I know is that I want her to be safe. I consider her a friend..." Loki said and Tony smirked. "I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you don't have very many of those." Tony said, the smirk still lingering on his lips.

"Well, to be honest, I was starting to feel like maybe I could consider you a friend, but as I see it now with that little jab, that couldn't possibly be true." Loki said with a smirk and Tony feigned a look of hurt. "Oh, I'm so wounded. I thought we were friends though." He said, holding his hand over his heart like it pained him. "I mean, I have let you into my home so graciously and fed and clothed you." He said and feigned a sniffle.

"Ah now Stark, you forced me here, remember? You beat me to a bloody pulp in the middle of the street." Loki countered and Tony chuckled. "I'll do it again too if you don't admit I'm a dearly beloved friend of yours now." Tony threatened lightly and Loki smiled at him softly. "Is that a promise or a threat?" he asked with a playful narrowing of the eyes. "How about we figure it out?" Tony offered with amusement flitting through his eyes. They heard a tapping of a foot and they both smiled and look to the doorway where Pepper stood, tapping her foot in irritation. 

"Neither of you will make it out of here alive if you try it." She threatened and they exchanged glances but chuckled lightly. She couldn't help the small smile that crossed her lips at this. "I'm glad you've changed for the better, Loki. You seem to be a decent person when you aren't trying to destroy a planet." She said and this time he feigned hurt in a similar manner to that of Tony, but more convincing.

"I'm honestly hurt you would hold that against me, dearest Mrs. Potts... I was being controlled after all." He admitted softly and she rolled her eyes. "No excuses. Now the two of you need to go play a game or watch a movie and bide your time doing something. Stop sitting around staring around at that computer." She scoffed and Loki smirked. "Of course, Mrs. Potts." He said and she rolled her eyes once more.

She walked over to the computer and started enlarging the pictures of the woman Loki was trying to find. "She's beautiful." She commented, catching Loki's attention. "I suppose so..."he muttered as he watched another picture flicker over the screen. "Where is she from?" Pepper asked and he frowned. "Jotunheim." He said and Pepper looked at him in confusion. "She was raised there, but she wasn't born there. She's a dark elf as well. She herself never actually told me her relation to Melekith, but I have reason to believe she is his granddaughter, seeing as the creature that killed my mother called her the princess." Loki said and Pepper watched him cautiously.

"She means us no harm, correct?" she asked and he nodded. "She wanted nothing to do with them. Honestly at one point she told me she wanted nothing more to get married and have a family, so I believe that sounds like there's nothing to truly fear from her." He said and Pepper nodded. "What is she like?" Pepper asked and Loki offered a small smile as he strolled over to the black couch in the room. "She loves art. She is amazing at sketching and painting. Not so good at illusory spells though." He chuckled and laid back on the couch and closed his eyes.

"She is the one who changed the way I look at the world, to be completely honest." He sighed and covered his eyes with his wrist. "I'm going to take a nap. It is a relief to see she is alright, now I can only hope she figures out what she's looking for in this world. I feel like I should leave her be, no matter how much I worry for her safety... It is my fault she was ever a prisoner in Asgard." He sighed as he scooted to get comfortable on the couch.

Tony crossed his arms over his chest as he motioned for Pepper to follow him to his office. Once there, they shut the door softly behind them. "So what do you think?" he asked and she glanced at him from where she was. "I think he is telling the truth. I don't think he is here to hurt anyone. I think he is here for her..." she said and he nodded. "I got that from the fact I practically rag dolled him all over New York and he didn't lift a finger to defend himself once when he first arrived." Tony said and Pepper stared at him with wide eyes.

"You never mentioned that..." she said and he shrugged. "Didn't think it was relevant till now." He said and she scoffed at him. "Not relevant. Hmph. The entire ordeal was relevant." She sighed as she rubbed her eyes. "What do you think he will do when he finds her?" she asked and he frowned. "I don't think he is going to do anything. I think he cares deeply for her but doesn't understand what he is feeling or why." Tony said and Pepper looked at him in a somewhat surprised manner.

"What, are you going to try and hook them up? Play matchmaker?" she asked with an amused snort. "Well, I suppose I could..." Tony said and he offered a smirk but she rolled her eyes. He was going to go on about something else, but Jarvis called in and caught his attention.

"Sir, you have a guest." Jarvis' voice rang out and Tony sighed as he straightened out his shirt to look presentable for whatever guest he was going to have. "I tried to stop him but he told me he needed to see you." Jarvis said and Tony nodded. "It's alright Jarvis, let him in." Tony said and the doors to the elevator opened revealing a certain blonde male. "Well shit." Tony muttered under his breath.

"Man of Iron, Stark. I have something to ask you!" Thor called out loudly, which caused a person with ebony hair to peek over the couch. This movement caused the jovial blonde to glance over at him, and the air became dense with rage. Thor stormed over to the couch and jerked Loki up by the collar of his t-shirt. "What is the meaning of this!" he snapped and Loki opened his mouth to speak but Thor laid into him once more. "I watched you die!" he snarled and Loki frowned but prepared to speak once more.

"Forgive me brother, but I had my reasons..." he started but the rage in Thor's eyes didn't fade in the slightest. "Reasons?! What reasons could you have possibly had, brother!?" he yelled angrily and Tony took this time to cut in. "Whoa, guys I don't think it-" "Silence Stark! This has nothing to do with you!" Thor snapped and Tony took a step back. "I see..." Tony muttered and made his way across the room.

"What could have been that important that you would force me to mourn your supposed death!?" Thor asked angrily and Loki opened his mouth to speak once more. "I needed-" "You needed nothing! You are the same liar you have always been! Nothing has chan-" "I DID IT FOR HER!" Loki managed to yell and Thor's mouth fell open in confusion. "You... did it for her?" he asked and set Loki back on the floor.

"Yes, brother... forgive me if I forced you to mourn me... I couldn't think of any other way you would let me slip away to help her." Loki said and Thor pursed his lips. "You faked your death to try and save Syndra?" Thor asked and Loki nodded. "But why?" Thor asked, causing Loki to look at him in surprise. "Because... she's my friend." He said and Loki offered a smile. "Well, tell me. Where is she?" he asked in excitement and Loki's eyes became saddened. 

Thor caught on to this and he frowned. "So you didn't get to her?" he asked and Loki shook his head and opened his mouth to speak, but Tony cut him off. "She was last in Tennessee. Where she is now, we have no idea, but she seems to be getting closer and closer to this general area." Stark said and Thor held a mischievous look. "I see brother, how did that happen?" he asked with an amused tone. 

"Father tried to exile me and she jumped in the way." Loki said simply and Thor chuckled. "No, brother... I know about the exile. Father told me he was letting us go... that he wanted you and I to live our lives as we pleased. So how did he come to that conclusion that you were lacking something?" Thor asked and a pink tint covered his cheeks. "I believe father assumed that I was in love with her." Loki said and Thor laughed.

"Well are you?" he asked and Loki gave him an unamused glance. "Of course not." "But are you sure about that?" Thor asked and Loki quirked a brow at his blonde brother. "Thor... you do realize I am married, correct?" he asked and Thor blinked at him. "Oh, yeah... of course." Loki rubbed his eyes and glanced at Tony for assistance, but Stark was staring at him with interested eyes. "You... YOU... Loki... are married?" he asked and Pepper pursed her lips and punched him in the arm lightly.

"He is a prince of Asgard, one would assume he would be married you fool." She hissed and Loki rubbed his eyes and lay back on the couch. "Hey, in my defense, Thor isn't married." Tony countered and Pepper sighed as she turned away from her husband. "Thor, would you like some pop tarts?" she asked and rattled the box. "Of course." The blonde said and made his way over to her to indulge on the treats she had offered.

"So... Loki..." Tony called out and the dark haired man looked at him from over the couch. "If we managed to get her within range of New York, what would you do when you found her?" he asked and Thor watched his brother with just as curious eyes. "Honestly, I'm not sure... she helped me through a dark time, so I suppose I should at least repay the favor." He said and Tony nodded. "I see..."

"Brother..." Thor called out and Loki looked at him in confusion. "Keep her safe." Thor said and Loki nodded. "She is going to be a targeted outcast of this world, so please take care of her. Melekith made sure of that." Thor said and Loki looked down at his hands with a small frown on his lips. "She only wants to fit in and be happy, Thor. And because of what she is... because of Melekith and I... she will never get that, no matter where she goes." He said and Thor placed a hand on his shoulder.

"She may have followed you into Asgard, but she was trying to find somewhere better. Asgard was better for her either way... there is no denying that much." Thor said and Loki nodded. "Although she was imprisoned, she told me more often than not she was happy to be safe." Thor said softly and Loki glanced up at him. "So, she will be happy wherever she goes then?" Loki asked and Thor nodded. 

"That's just who she is." Thor said and Loki nodded. "I guess... I guess I should leave her be then, let her find her own purpose here." He said and Thor smiled at him. "Do what you think is best little brother. In the end it is your choice." He said and Loki nodded. Loki understood fully what his brother meant. Loki didn't want to worry about her, but she was his friend so he was bound to worry about her no matter what.

"I suppose I could keep tabs on her, but let her lead her life as she pleases."


End file.
